A Record-Setting Day for Wake Forest

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Wake Forest did what teams are supposed to do when they are good, and they play an overmatched opponent. The Deacs summarily dismantled Stanford 57-3 at Allegacy Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It was the largest margin of victory for Wake Forest in an ACC game in history. The conference started back, with Wake as a founding member, in 1953. It was also the second-worst margin of defeat in Stanford’s football history.

A Record-Setting Day for Wake Forest

Wake Forest has become a program where it is okay to have expectations against lesser opponents. The Demon Deacons put out the kind of near-complete game against Stanford that would seemingly make head coach Jake Dickert happy.

Lopez Feeling Better

Dickert had said all week that quarterback Gio Lopez was feeling as good as he had felt since week one of the season. A banged-up hip that had hobbled him for weeks and kept him from practicing every day was no longer an issue. He practiced all week and reportedly felt good going into the game. And if that wasn’t enough to put a bounce in his step, Stanford linebackers Matt Rose and Jahsiah Galvan did not suit up for the game. The Wake game plan was adjusted accordingly and executed throughout the game.

Lopez spent much of the first half throwing past the linebackers and under the defensive backs. He finished the game 20 of 27 passing for 265 yards and two touchdowns. But he was also the team’s leading rusher with 88 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries. It was his first career game with three rushing touchdowns, and his five total touchdowns were a career high. Lopez nearly doubled the rushing totals of the entire Stanford offense.

Early and Often

Wake put up a touchdown on its first drive. Lopez led a drive that was a mix of running plays (with him and Deuce Lawrence carrying the ball) and pass plays focusing on receiver Carlos Hernandez. Lawrence finished the 75-yard drive, bouncing off tacklers, on his way into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown and the 7-0 lead.

The Stanford offense struggled throughout the day. After Wake’s scoring drive, the Cardinal had its response snuffed out when quarterback Davis Warren ate an 11-yard sack from linebacker Vinny Ferenze.

Wake’s answer was another touchdown drive, this one going 65 yards in just six plays. Wake had back-to-back penalties on the drive, in what has become very Wake fashion. But even with the self-inflicted wounds, Lopez had a three-yard run followed by a five-yard run up the middle for the touchdown. Tight end Will Loerzell took the direct snap on the PAT and ran it in for the two-point conversion and the 15 -0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Piling Up the Numbers

Stanford got a 43-yard field goal from Emmet Kenney to cap a 53-yard drive and make it 15-3 Wake Forest. It turned out to be Stanford’s only points of the game. The Cardinal only had two drives where they even crossed midfield.

It was Lopez and Hernandez moving the team downfield again in the second quarter, even overcoming back-to-back penalties again. With the ball on the 12-yard line, Lopez scrambled and could not find an open receiver. He took off on his own and sprinted to the right of the end zone for the touchdown and the 22-3 lead.

Wake added one more touchdown before the end of the half. The Deacs went 82 yards in eight plays. Lopez scrambled to his left and ripped a pass to Jack Foley streaking across the middle of the end zone for the four-yard touchdown. It was now 29-3 with eight seconds left in the half, and the game, for all intents and purposes, was over.

Wake’s Defense

Wake already had 293 yards of total offense to 88 for Stanford. While Lopez had thrown for 208 yards in the half, Warren had only 70 for Stanford. “One of the biggest things we talked about coming into the game was not to allow them to be balanced,” Dickert said after the game. It worked. The defensive line was controlling Warren in the pocket. And when he was on the move, it was because he was being flushed out, as opposed to it being by design.

Want to talk about the defensive line presence? In the third quarter, on fourth and one, Warren threw a pass that hit receiver Zion Robinson in the foot. The ball bounced up, and the ever-present Dallas Afalava was there for the interception.

At that point, Lopez threw off his back foot and found an open Kam Shanks downfield for a 40-yard completion to the Stanford 15-yard line. Four plays later, Lopez ran the play action pass to perfection, connecting with Loerzel in the left corner of the end zone. It was now 43-3, and that was a day for the starters.

Second-year player Steele Pizzella took over at quarterback in the fourth quarter. He even had a rushing touchdown from 10 yards out to add to the piling up of the stats.

Wake finished the game with 519 yards of total offense, averaging nearly eight yards per play. They doubled Stanford’s first downs 26-13. And the Wake defense held the Stanford offense to only 197 yards of total offense.

The Last Word

Even with the decisive win, Dickert said he will find things that need fixing. “I’m pretty good at finding things to complain about [with the team’s performance].

He will likely look at penalties. They were fewer than usual. Eight penalties for 52 yards, or one fewer than their per-season average.

But then there was the almost-penalty. The referee stopped the game in the first quarter and told the scoreboard operator to stop playing the loud music while Stanford was trying to call its plays. For the record, the band can play, or there can be the piped-in music only up to the point where the team gets to the line of scrimmage.

But the loud music and the length it was played were not a mistake. Last Word found out during the game that Dickert has been working on the home stadium environment with the gameday operations staff. In the post-game press conference, we tried to see if he would own up to it. “We’re going to continue to push the limits. That’s all I’ve got to say,” he replied with a sly grin on his face.

Wake is now 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Stanford falls to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in ACC play.

Last Word will have more post-game coverage on Sunday with player interviews and more comments from Dickert.

Main Image: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

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