No. 5 Miami heads into Friday night’s ACC trip to Wake Forest with the kind of offensive momentum that forces you to start thinking in big numbers.
The Hurricanes are 2-0 after blasting Stanford, 45-6, and Florida A&M, 77-7, and they bring a 20.5-point road spread into a 7:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff on ESPN.
Wake Forest is unbeaten too, sitting at 2-0 after wins over Akron, 38-16, and Purdue, 38-36. The Demon Deacons have shown they can score, but Miami has looked like a team operating on a different level entirely through two games.
The simplest read on this matchup is that the Hurricanes keep rolling. Wake Forest has put up 38 points in each of its victories, and Gio Lopez has been productive with 575 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, 97 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in two games.
But Miami has been overwhelming from the opening whistle, averaging 61 points, 702.5 yards per game and 10 yards per play while outscoring opponents 122-13. Wake Forest’s defense hasn’t offered much evidence that it can slow that kind of pace, either, after giving up 36 points at Purdue and ranking 12th in the ACC in both passing yards allowed and rushing yards allowed.
That’s why a Miami pull-away after halftime feels like the safest call of the night. The prediction here is a 45-17 Hurricanes win, which would put them over the 20.5-point number.
There’s also real interception potential for Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez. He has protected the football through two starts, completing 21 of 32 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns against Akron before going 16 of 27 for 225 yards at Purdue and adding two rushing touchdowns.
Still, Miami’s defense is built to disrupt that rhythm. The Hurricanes held Stanford to two field goals in the opener and are allowing just 6.5 points per game.
Even with key defenders missing in the secondary, Miami’s pass rush is the sort of problem Lopez hasn’t had to deal with yet this season. One hurried throw in a tight window could easily become his first interception as a Demon Deacon.
And then there’s the duo that has made Miami so dangerous: Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney. Until a defense actually proves it can slow them down, the bar stays high.
Mensah has completed 41 of 45 passes for a 91.1% completion rate, racking up 653 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception. He opened his Miami career by throwing five touchdown passes at Stanford, then added three more in one half against Florida A&M.
Toney has been just as explosive, catching 12 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns against Stanford before following that with four catches for 96 yards and a touchdown against Florida A&M.
The expectation for Friday is more of the same: four touchdown passes for Mensah, no interceptions, and a big night for Toney, who is projected to reach 120 yards and two scores as Miami’s offense again shows why it belongs in the national conversation.
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