Wake Forest Football PFF Grade Breakdown Before Facing Miami
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The Demon Deacons certainly have a tall test ahead of them as their matchup with the No. 5Miami Hurricanes will take place on Friday night. Despite some adversity, the Deacs are 2-0 going into the matchup. Let's take a look at some things that stand out from Wake Forest's statistics on Pro Football Focus to get a deeper dive into this team's strengths and weaknesses.
QB Deep Dive
It is safe to say all Wake fans are beyond satisfied with the play they have seen from Gio Lopez early in the season. He has already shown he can come up big in huge spots this past weekend against Purdue. The question remains, though: how does he measure up against other ACC quarterbacks?
This answer is pretty darn good. Gio is currently the sixth-highest-rated quarterback in the conference, with an overall offensive rating of 78.1. This weekend's challenger, Miami's Darian Mensah, is first by a pretty good margin, with a superb 94.4 rating.
The one big thing that stood out is that Gio actually has the highest run grade amongst ACC quarterbacks two weeks into the season. This is really what is pushing him up in the overall rankings, as his passing rating is just 10th overall. However, put these two together, and you have a dual-threat quarterback who is a great fit for this offense.
Big-time QB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/GRXib5e9EB
— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) September 14, 2026
Defensive Questions
Despite all the positive vibes after the Purdue win, questions remain for the Demon Deacons' defense that looked porous at times against the Boilermakers. One bright spot has been linebacker Vinny Frienze, who has finished as the highest-rated defensive Deac in both of the first two games. He had an especially good tackle grade of 83. Aiden Hall also posted a team-high 89.3 run defense grade against the Boilermakers, which is certainly promising.
However, a lot of the problems for the Deacs start to pop up in the coverage grades. This was also quite evident on the field, as coverage seemed to be loose over the middle of the field several times, allowing Purdue to capitalize. The starting linebackers, Aidan Hall and Frank Cusano, had the lowest coverage grades at 48.5 and 43.7, respectively. This is certainly something the Deacs will hope to correct to avoid making it easy for the high-powered Miami offense to move the ball upfield. Better coverage overall is certainly a key to getting off the field on third downs as well.
Overall, some poor tackle grades against Purdue were another major factor in why the Deacs' defense could not get off the field at times. Four players had tackle ratings below 30, making it easier for Purdue to extend plays. This, coupled with the issues in coverage, was the reason why this defense was not as sharp as we normally see them. Those are the two main areas I will be looking at against Miami to see some corrections from the Deacs.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.