Wake Forest is walking into another demanding road test Saturday, and this one comes with No. 16 Louisville on the other side.
The Cardinals have already spent this season in the kind of games that leave a mark. They opened with a 41-38 loss to then-No.
9 Ole Miss on Sept. 6, then turned around and beat then-No. 16 SMU 41-31 last week in their ACC opener.
Louisville is 2-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, and Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert sees a team that has already been through plenty.
"This is, in my opinion, probably the most tested football team in the country with the schedule they've played," Dickert said of the Cardinals.
Wake Forest is coming off its own bruising matchup, a 33-20 loss to then-No. 5 Miami last week.
The Demon Deacons are 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC, and this trip to Louisville, Ky., gives them a second straight game against a ranked opponent. Their only road game so far ended in a 38-36 double-overtime win at Purdue on Sept.
"We'll have another extreme challenge this week," Dickert said. "Guys have to be playing at a fast, high rate. ...
The best is still out there for this team. A quarter of the season is already over.
We've got to work tirelessly to find it quickly."
One of Wake Forest’s biggest concerns has been keeping quarterback Gio Lopez upright. Dickert has already pointed to the physical toll Lopez has absorbed, and the numbers back up the strain: Lopez has thrown for 887 yards and seven touchdowns, but he has been sacked five times.
"Priority No. 1 offensively is protecting the quarterback," Dickert said. "Every ACC team we face is going to have an elite edge rusher."
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said Lopez’s role in the offense is obvious.
"He fits great in their system; he really does," Brohm said. "He's doing a really good job."
Louisville has been just as hard to slow down on offense, and it has done it without giving the ball away. The Cardinals are one of six FBS teams yet to commit a turnover this season, and their ground game has been a major reason why. Keyjuan Brown and Isaac Brown have given Louisville a strong one-two punch, and Keyjuan Brown’s performance against SMU stood out: 163 rushing yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries as Louisville piled up 265 rushing yards.
"Add the third prong to it: the quarterback and the quarterback run element," Dickert said. "It's a physical football team. This isn't Air Raid Louisville."
That quarterback is Lincoln Kienholz, who has rushed for four touchdowns and averages 51 rushing yards per game. He has scored at least one rushing touchdown and thrown at least two passing touchdowns in every game. Eleven of Louisville’s 18 offensive touchdowns have come on the ground, and Brohm said Kienholz’s ball security has helped make that possible.
"Taking care of the ball is not easy to do, especially when it's in your hand every play as a passer or runner, so he's been outstanding in that aspect," Brohm said.
"Hopefully, we can continue to do that, but I think his ability to scramble and create and make plays causes him not to throw the ball into traffic."
For Wake Forest, forcing that kind of mistake-free football is part of the challenge.
"Taking care of the ball will be at a premium," Dickert said. "They're plus-six in turnover margin through three games.
So they're elite at taking it away, and they're elite at having ball security against really good opponents. So we have to flip that number in our favor."
In Other News...
Louisville Enters Week 4 With ACC Momentum And One Backfield Debate
Louisville heads into Week 4 with a little more confidence after opening ACC play by beating SMU, and the next stop brings Wake Forest into the picture. The Demon Deacons are coming off a conference loss to Miami, while the Cardinals are trying to build on a win that gave their early season a cleaner look on both sides of the ball. For a team trying to establish itself in league play, this is the kind of game that can help set the tone before the schedule gets any tougher.
The more interesting subplot inside Louisvilles own locker room is in the backfield, where the carries have not told the whole story. Isaac Brown remains the more familiar name, but Keyjuan Brown has been making his case with efficiency and production that have started to sharpen the discussion around how the Cardinals should divide their workload. With Louisville carrying momentum and the matchup tilting in its favor, the only real question is how much the ground game can keep opening doors before the conference race tightens up. [Read more 🡒]
Louisvilles Fast Start Is Raising A Much Bigger Question
Louisvilles early-season picture has been a mix of promise and unfinished business, with the Cardinals showing enough offensive balance to keep piling up points while still leaving room for concern on the other side of the ball. Multiple running backs helped drive the attack, quarterback Kienholz added his own key moments, and the teams 2-1 start has already included a close loss to a top-ranked opponent, a reminder that the margin for error is thin even when the offense is humming.
The bigger question now is whether those fast starts can hold up once the pressure rises and the schedule keeps tightening, beginning with Wake Forest. Louisville has already lived through a game in which it gave up too much on the ground but still found ways to survive, so the next step is less about flash and more about consistency. If the Cardinals are going to turn this start into something bigger, they will need the same offensive variety and a defense that can keep making the right stops when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Kaleb Beasley May Be Giving Louisville's Secondary New Life
Jeff Brohm made it clear Louisville needed more from its secondary, and the response in the SMU game was hard to ignore. Kaleb Beasley was at the center of it, popping up all over the field for a defense that needed a jolt, and his play immediately changed the tone around a unit that had been under the microscope.
Safeties coach Brandon Sharp sounded encouraged by what he saw, treating Beasleys outing as a sign the group may be finding some momentum at last. The challenge now is whether that carries over to Wake Forest, where dual-threat quarterback Gio Lopez and wide receiver Carlos Hernandez are the next problems waiting to test whether Louisvilles secondary has really turned a corner. [Read more 🡒]