Wake Forest Sets Records in Blowout Win Over Stanford
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There was certainly no letdown performance in this one. The Demon Deacons set a program record for the largest margin of victory in an ACC game in school history. A great accomplishment for Coach Dickert and company.
Wake played a stellar game offensively and defensively to get the blowout victory and improve to 2-1 in ACC play. The first two drives for the offense were both under three and a half minutes long and resulted in touchdowns, and they finished by accumulating 519 yards of total offense when it was all said and done.
Big-Time QB Play
Gio Lopez was phenomenal in this one. He contributed to five total touchdowns, two passing and three rushing. He threw for 265 yards and ran for 88. His day was finished by the end of the third quarter due to the comfortable margin.
Gio's biggest strength today was probably his ability to improvise. A couple of plays broke down, and Gio used his instincts to make plays on his own. This resulted in several Wake drives ending in touchdowns. In fact, the Deacs were 7-7 in the red zone, scoring touchdowns in every appearance.
Gio hit his top target, Carlos Hernandez, early and often. He finished the day with seven receptions for 87 yards. Jack Foley and Cam Shanks also both had good days receiving, accumulating 50 yards receiving, respectively. Deuce Lawrence was also able to give the Deacs solid carries in limited volume, with six rushes for 47 yards and a score.
Suffocating Defense
Over the first few games of the season, Wake has had some bad moments in defensive coverage that have led to big passing performances from their opponents. This was certainly not one of those days. The Deacs' defense was focused from the get-go and totally shut down the Cardinal.
The most impressive statistic is probably that Stanford did not have a single snap in the red zone all day. The defense was never faced with their backs against the wall because of success early in drives. They only gave up 148 passing yards and 197 total yards and held the Cardinal to 6-for-17 on third downs, compared to 10-for-13 for the Wake Forest offense. The defense also held Stanford to just 2.9 yards per play.
The defense also accumulated four sacks and nine TFLs. Dallas Afalava secured his second interception as a Demon Deacon on a critical fourth-down attempt for Davis Warren and the Stanford offense. Overall, it was a great day for this Wake Forest defense. It looked a lot like some of the lockdown defensive performances we saw last year from this team.
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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.