Wake Forest has spent the opening stretch of the season making a case for itself, and now the next test arrives in the form of a rivalry road game at NC State.
The Demon Deacons have already shown they can go toe-to-toe with quality opposition. They hung around with Miami, then backed it up by going on the road and beating No.
16 Louisville. Stanford was a different kind of matchup, one in which Wake Forest was clearly the better team and just needed to play like it.
So far, that’s exactly what the Deacons have done.
NC State figures to be a far tougher assignment than Stanford, and Carter-Finley Stadium brings a different kind of pressure than Wake Forest saw last week. It’s a rivalry game, it’s on the road, and it comes against a Wolfpack team that still has enough talent to make mistakes expensive.
Wake Forest has been sharp against better opponents. The question now is whether that same edge shows up again.
The Wolfpack are 3-2 and coming off a 31-28 win over Louisville, which helps explain why the numbers still look strong. NC State is averaging 36.8 points and 460 yards per game, signs of an offense that can threaten almost anybody. But the résumé also includes a 34-8 loss to Virginia and one of the strangest defeats in college football this season against Vanderbilt.
That Vanderbilt loss came with six seconds left and should have been over. Quarterback CJ Bailey only needed to take a safety and let the clock expire.
Instead, he held the ball too long, Vanderbilt forced a fumble, and the Commodores turned it into the winning touchdown. It was the kind of finish that can only be described as total quarterback brain fog.
Bailey is still the biggest problem Wake Forest has to solve. Through five games, he has completed 65.3% of his passes for 1,266 yards and eight touchdowns.
He also just posted a career-high 373 passing yards against Louisville. JoJo Trader had five catches for 92 yards in that game, and Keenan Jackson has found the end zone five times over NC State’s last three games.
On the defensive side, linebacker Popo Aguirre is the name that jumps out. He entered the Louisville game third in the ACC in tackles per game, then followed that by recovering three fumbles against the Cardinals.
This game also carries the weight that comes with the series itself. Wake Forest and NC State have been meeting since 1910, making it the second-longest continuously played rivalry in the FBS. NC State won 34-24 in Winston-Salem last season, while Wake Forest’s last trip to Raleigh ended with a 34-30 Demon Deacons win in 2024.
Wake Forest has been the steadier team through five games. It has handled Miami, Louisville, and Stanford about as well as could be expected, and the pattern so far has been hard to miss: the tougher the challenge, the better Wake Forest has looked.
NC State has the firepower to make that matter. Wake Forest has given enough reason to think it’s ready for it.
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NC State Faces A Real Test Against Wake Forest's Hottest Threat
Wake Forest heads into a rivalry meeting with North Carolina State with Gio Lopez giving the offense a steady edge. The quarterback has been one of the ACCs most efficient playmakers so far, piling up 1,377 passing yards and 15 total touchdowns against only one interception in five games, and that kind of form has made the Deacons a tougher read for opponents who have had to chase them early and often.
Now the challenge gets sharper with NC State bringing its own recent momentum into a game that still carries the usual edge of a border rivalry. Both staffs have spent the week talking through expectations and matchups, and the Wolfpacks defensive issues only add to the intrigue of how Wake Forest will try to attack. For a team looking to keep building on what Lopez has started, this is the kind of test that can tell you a lot about where the offense really stands. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Fans Just Got An Early Read On LJVMs Next Test
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The schedule release also sharpens the focus on the roster that will take the floor for those home dates, mixing returning pieces with newcomers Kevair Kennedy and Jamari McDowell, plus top-100 freshmen twins Gallagher and Gavin Placide. Special ticket packages are already being offered for marquee visits from Duke and North Carolina, and those are the kinds of nights that tend to define whether an early-season buzz turns into something louder by winter. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Just Got A Tough ACC Stretch Into Sharper Focus
The ACCs latest round of kickoff announcements gave Wake Forest a clearer view of what October looks like, and it starts with a quick turnaround into a tricky road date. The Demon Deacons will host NC State on October 10 at noon on The CW, then head into a short week before another conference game that could demand plenty from their travel legs and preparation.
Later that month, the schedule gets even less forgiving as the Deacons are set for a late-night trip out west, a reminder of how uneven the league slate can be. California is waiting at Memorial Stadium, and the broadcast window should give the matchup a national stage, even if Wake Forest will be working deep into the night to handle it. [Read more 🡒]