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Win Over NC State Propels Wake Forest to AP Ranking

The Deacs are now featured in the AP Poll
Justin Kontul|
Oct 10, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons tight end Matthew Lusardi (48) celebrates his touchdown with tight end Dominick Barry (84) and defensive back Koredell Bartley (35) during the first half of the game against NC State Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons tight end Matthew Lusardi (48) celebrates his touchdown with tight end Dominick Barry (84) and defensive back Koredell Bartley (35) during the first half of the game against NC State Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Wake Forest Demon DeaconsNorth Carolina State Wolfpack

Demon Deacon fans got pleasant news on Sunday after the runaway victory over NC State on Saturday. For the first time in the Jake Dickert era at Wake Forest, the Deacs are featured in this week's AP Poll after being right on the outside looking in for the past couple of weeks.

Wake is the #21-ranked team in the poll, just ahead of #22 LSU and conference foe SMU at #24. They jumped all the way to this spot from being unranked last week.

Just two years in, Jake Dickert looks like he has a team in serious contention for an ACC Championship. Halfway through the schedule, Wake is 5-1 with quality road wins over Purdue, Louisville, and now NC State. Let's take a look at how they were able to get here, thanks to the win over the weekend.

Dangerous Duo at Receiver

Carlos Hernandez has been absolutely exceptional all season. With his performance against NC State, he is now the leading receiver in receptions in all of FBS, cementing his spot as one of the top receivers in the nation. Against the Wolfpack, he continued his dominant play by reeling in 12 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. The opposition simply had no answer to deal with his dynamic speed and playmaking.

Maybe the most promising development was that Jack Foley had the best game of his Wake Forest career, balancing out Hernandez in the passing attack. Foley had eight catches for 156 yards and a touchdown. Foley got off to a slow start to the season, but has heated up quickly. He played well in the second half against Miami and now was an X-factor in a dominant passing attack against the rival Wolfpack. I'm excited to see how Foley continues to rise to give Gio Lopez another go-to weapon in this offense.

Defensive Force

It was a tale of two halves for the Wake defense. CJ Bailey was on a role in the first half, and it looked very similar to what Darian Mensah was able to do against this defense. Then, the defense really tightened up. They held the Wolfpack to just 73 yards of total offense in the second half.

One big catalyst for this was defensive end Langston Hardy, who had a superb day. He finished with eight total tackles, 1.5 sacks, and two tackles for loss. He's able to put so much pressure on opposing quarterbacks, which can really get this defense into a flow, like they were in the second half. Getting more pressure on Bailey was certainly key to the turnaround.

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Justin Kontul
JUSTIN KONTUL

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.