While prognosticators have been wondering who the next school to make an Indiana-type leap into the big leagues could be, with some already crowning UCLA as the likeliest successor, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have been quietly developing into something of a budding juggernaut. Those are big words for an ACC program that put up back-to-back 4-8 seasons in 2023 and '24, but I don't think they're totally inaccurate.
In Jake Dickert's first year at the helm of Wake Forest, they went 9-4 with a Mayo Bowl win over Mississippi State. In his second year, they are currently 9-1, with their only loss coming against championship favorite Miami. While they have not exactly gone against a gauntlet, they have dominated in most of their games, particularly in the last six weeks, outscoring their opponents 313-38.
This casualty list added SMU on Saturday when the Demon Deacons crushed the Mustangs 49-7, with 42 points scored in the first half. It was a spanking! Quarterback Gio Lopez accounted for 201 yards and a TD in the air, plus 34 yards and two more TDs on the ground, while the running backs added another 252 yards and 4 TDs. SMU, which is a good team with a solid record, could do absolutely nothing against these guys. They committed three turnovers and were not able to score until garbage time in the fourth quarter.
Wake Forest was ranked 13th in the CFP heading into this matchup, which put them on the outside of the playoff—at least for one final year—but they will almost certainly get a boost after this performance. They are in position to potentially see Miami again in the ACC championship, and win or lose they should be given a chance to compete in the playoff if they defeat everyone else they face. Wake might not be ready to win it all, but they are definitely primed to play the role of chaos agent in the bracket. In one of those ESPN stats that both mean something and feel arbitrary at the same time, the Demon Deacons are now the first team since 2013 Alabama to score 20+ points while shutting out opponents in the first half of four consecutive games.
The point is, Wake Forest is really good and should be taken seriously. Dickert, who just signed an extension to stay on at Wake Forest, put it very succinctly. “People, they don’t know what to make of us because they don’t understand how we’re doing it,” he said after the game. “We keep making statement after statement. Eventually, they’re gonna have to say we’re a pretty good team.” Eventually might be here sooner than he thinks.
