Wake Forest comes home for Family Weekend with momentum after knocking off ranked Louisville on the road, and the 3-1 Demon Deacons now find themselves in a familiar but welcome spot: drawing attention in the ACC. Jake Dickert’s team is just outside the Associated Press Top 25, and Saturday’s matchup with Stanford gives Wake Forest another chance to reinforce what it showed last weekend.
The biggest reason for Wake Forest’s surge has been the play of quarterback Gio Lopez. Through the four games he has started, Lopez has given the offense steady production and built clear chemistry with Carlos Hernandez, who has emerged as the team’s breakout receiver at WR1.
Stanford arrives in Winston-Salem with a little confidence of its own after picking up its first conference win of the season. The Cardinal rallied from a 20-10 halftime deficit to beat Georgia Tech 34-27 last week, and Michigan transfer quarterback passed for a career-high 396 yards and three touchdowns in the comeback.
That win matters for a Stanford program still trying to prove something in Tavita Pritchard’s first season as head coach. With former Stanford quarterback and current general Manager Andrew Luck helping guide the rebuild, the Cardinal are pushing for a turnaround and their first winning record in a full season since 2018.
Weather shouldn’t create much drama at Allegacy Financial Stadium, though there is some rain in the forecast. Kickoff is expected to come with a 20% to 30% chance of rain, and that number is set to climb as the afternoon goes on. Temperatures should sit around 70 degrees with partly cloudy skies.
Wind should stay manageable, too. A sustained southwest breeze of 10-12 miles per hour is expected, a factor that should not have major impact on special teams. Wake Forest kicker Connor Calvert has a career-long field goal range of 50 yards, while Stanford kicker Emmet Kenney has a career-long of 52 yards.
In Other News...
Jake Dickert Is Building Buzz Wisconsin Fans Can't Ignore
A strong opening month at Wake Forest has done more than get the Demon Deacons pointed in the right direction. It has also put Jake Dickert back on the radar beyond Winston-Salem, especially after the road win over No. 16 Louisville added another notable result to a 3-1 start.
Analysts and reporters have already begun mentioning Dickert as a coach to watch on the Crain & Cone podcast and at On3, pointing to both his work at Washington State and what he is doing now with Wake Forest. With eight games still left, he has plenty of time to keep building a rsum that could make him harder to ignore if future openings start to come into view. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Just Entered A Different ACC Conversation
A key road win at Louisville has changed the way Wake Forest is being viewed inside the ACC, as the Demon Deacons climbed six spots to move into the No. 2 spot in the conference football power rankings. The weekly rankings, compiled by an editorial staff based on recent game results, still have Miami in a unanimous No. 1 position, but Wake Forests rise has given the league a new shape near the top.
Wake Forests jump also came in a week when Virginia Tech slipped four places, underscoring how quickly the middle of the ACC can be reshuffled by one good Saturday. For the Demon Deacons, the bigger question now is whether this road breakthrough was a one-week surge or the start of a more durable place in the conference conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Stanford's Reset Feels Real But One Road Problem Still Looms
Stanfords first season under Tavita Pritchard has started to look more like a program trying to move forward than one simply surviving the week-to-week grind. The offense has become more functional, quarterback Davis Warren has settled in, and the changes on defense under coordinator Kris Richard have given the Cardinal a clearer identity. Even the work of linebacker Matt Rose has fit into that broader reset, with Stanford showing signs of a team that can at least stay in games instead of drifting through them.
Still, the road version of that progress is where the test gets real, and Wake Forest will have plenty of interest in how much of Stanfords growth travels. The Talking Trees Podcast breakdown pointed to genuine improvement, but also left open the question that matters most in a matchup like this: whether the Cardinal can carry that competence away from home and turn it into something more dependable when the setting changes. [Read more 🡒]