No. 5 Miami heads to Winston-Salem on Friday night looking to keep its early-season surge rolling, but Wake Forest enters as the first opponent that can really make the Hurricanes work.
Miami has blasted through its first two games, piling up a 122-23 scoring edge and climbing two spots in the AP poll into the top five. The Hurricanes are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, and their offense has been humming so efficiently that it scored on nearly every drive against Florida A&M last week.
Wake Forest, also 2-0, comes in with a little more fight-tested momentum after surviving a road trip to Purdue in double overtime. The Demon Deacons are coming off a 9-4 season and will try to test a Miami team that has looked far more polished than most early-season opponents.
Friday’s matchup is set for 7:30 p.m. at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and ESPN will carry the game. Miami is a 20.5-point favorite, with weather forecast at 79 degrees and a 51 percent chance of rain.
One of the biggest questions for the Hurricanes is what their secondary looks like now. Three cornerbacks, including starters OJ Frederique Jr. and Xavier Lucas, are out for the foreseeable future with undisclosed injuries.
Against Florida A&M, Miami lined up Damari Brown and Bryce Fitzgerald at outside cornerback, and both held up well. This week, though, the assignment gets tougher with Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez and receiver Carlos Hernandez coming into focus.
Lopez has become one of the more interesting quarterbacks on Miami’s schedule. After finding success at South Alabama in 2024, he transferred to North Carolina in 2025, struggled there, and then moved on to Wake Forest, where he reunited with former South Alabama offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, now the Demon Deacons’ coordinator. Through two games, Lopez has completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 575 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, while also rushing for 97 yards and two scores.
Miami has its own quarterback centerpiece in Darian Mensah, and the Duke transfer has been almost flawless so far. In less than five full quarters of action for the Hurricanes, Mensah has completed 41 of 45 passes for eight touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has given him a 94.1 passing grade, the best mark in the country.
Mario Cristobal is 37-19 at Miami and 99-79 overall, while Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert is 11-4 at Wake Forest and 34-24 overall.
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Wake Forest Just Got An Opening Against Miami That Could Matter
Miami comes into its matchup with Wake Forest short on the back end, with defensive backs OJ Frederique Jr., Xavier Lucas and Ja'Boree Antoine all listed out on the ACC availability report. The Hurricanes are also without tight end Luka Gilbert, which trims another option from the offense as they prepare for a game that could ask a little more of the depth chart than usual.
Mario Cristobal has stressed Miamis approach to playing freshmen and leaning on the players who earn their snaps, and that philosophy is about to be tested in a real way. For Wake Forest, the opening is obvious: any game plan built around pressuring a reshuffled secondary or forcing younger replacements into bigger roles suddenly looks a lot more interesting. [Read more 🡒]
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Wake Forest has opened its 2026 season with a pair of wins, including an overtime escape against Purdue, and now the schedule shifts into a far different gear. The next challenge arrives in Winston-Salem, where the Demon Deacons will host No. 5 Miami in a game that already carries the feel of an early measuring stick for a team trying to establish itself before the season gets too deep.
Miami has answered its first two games with authority, reinforcing the national championship expectations that already hang over the Hurricanes. Quarterback Darian Mensah, receiver Malachi Toney, running back Mark Fletcher and defensive tackle Ahmad Moten Sr. give the visitors the kind of balance that can expose mistakes quickly, which is why this one figures to say plenty about where Wake Forest stands after its bright opening. [Read more 🡒]