DALLAS - Wake Forest didn’t just beat SMU on Saturday. It put the College Football Playoff selection committee on notice.
The Demon Deacons rolled to a 49-7 win and turned the game into a statement before halftime, racing out to a 42-0 lead in a first half that bordered on absurd. SMU had entered the day 7-2 and 12-0 at home in league play since joining the ACC. A week earlier, the Mustangs had hung 51 on Virginia Tech in the same building.
None of that mattered once Wake Forest got rolling.
If the committee is trying to sort out the “best teams,” Wake Forest belongs in that conversation right now. The Deacons are sitting at No. 13, behind four two-loss teams, and this performance made the case to move them up.
“They’re seeing what the rest of the country is seeing,” athletic director John Currie told The Athletic during the romp. “This is a really good football team.”
What Wake Forest has done over the last month is hard to ignore. After needing overtime to escape Purdue in Week 2, the Deacons have won six straight by at least 24 points. Since halftime of a competitive 13-point loss to a full-strength Miami team, they have outscored opponents 349-74.
The schedule may not be loaded with marquee names, but the Deacons are crushing what’s in front of them. That’s part of why they entered Saturday ranked 10th in ESPN’s strength of record.
They also keep stacking up numbers that speak to how cleanly they play. Wake Forest became the first team since 2013 Alabama to score at least 20 points in six straight first halves while not allowing a point. That’s the kind of run that jumps off the page, even if it sounds almost too neat to be real.
On the field, the details keep adding up. Wake entered the day with the second-fewest turnovers in the country and the ninth-best third-down conversion rate.
It was also top-20 in red zone touchdown percentage. Those strengths showed up again against SMU.
A big reason is Lopez, who continues to look like a player who deserves more Heisman Trophy attention in a year without many obvious front-runners. He accounted for three touchdowns Saturday and averaged 8.0 yards per attempt.
He also made the smart, simple plays, including throwing the ball away when needed. That kind of decision-making helps explain why he has 27 touchdowns and only one interception this season.
Wake Forest’s defense did its part too. The Deacons had allowed the fewest plays of 20-plus yards in the country entering Saturday, and SMU - a team that ranked in the top 10 in that category on offense - managed only three such plays, with none longer than 25 yards.
That’s what a disciplined team looks like. Wake Forest doesn’t hand opponents extra chances.
It waits for mistakes and punishes them when they come. That’s also the sign of a program that’s well coached, by a coach who was in demand.
The win capped a huge week for Wake Forest off the field as well. The school signed head coach Jake Dickert and offensive coordinator Rob Ezell to contract extensions that will bring them back next year.
The terms were not disclosed by Wake Forest, a private school, which said only that Dickert had signed a “long-term” deal. Currie would not go beyond that.
“Jake Dickert’s never wavered on Wake Forest,” Currie said. “It’s inevitable with this kind of success, you get that speculation.
People’s perception of who we are is from years ago. It was a proactive way for us to enable our players, fans and staff to focus on what we’re doing right now.”
Lopez has another year of eligibility, and he figures to draw interest of his own. Currie said he trusts Dickert and general manager Rob Schlaeger to handle that situation. For now, though, that can wait.
With Georgia Tech and Duke left on the schedule, Wake Forest is in position to reach the ACC Championship Game and set up a rematch with a Miami team now without Malachi Toney. What happens after that is still to be determined.
But in a season where so many teams are stumbling toward the finish, Wake Forest is charging ahead. And after what it did to SMU, it’s impossible to miss.
In Other News...
Wake Forest Just Set Up A Massive Final Stretch In The ACC
Wake Forest took care of business in emphatic fashion against SMU, rolling to a 49-7 win that kept the Demon Deacons squarely in the ACC race. Gio Lopez handled the offense efficiently, throwing for 134 yards while adding two rushing touchdowns, and backup Steele Pizzella finished things off with a late scoring run as Wake Forest continued to build momentum at the right time.
With two regular-season games left, the path ahead is suddenly very real for the Demon Deacons. They have put themselves in position to reach the ACC Championship Game, and the next stretch will determine whether this surge turns into a title shot or just a strong finish to a promising season. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Just Forced A CFP Debate Nobody Can Ignore
A nationwide FAA ground stop caused by a mass communication outage turned Week 11 into a travel mess for college football teams, with delays, rerouted routines and at least one bizarre scene as Colorado State held a walkthrough on a tarmac. Most of the schedule still went on as planned, though Mississippi-Oklahoma was pushed to Sunday, and the chaos only added to a weekend already loaded with teams trying to sort out where they really stand.
Wake Forest was one of the teams that made the conversation harder to ignore, because its recent run has put it right in the middle of a broader debate about what kind of team deserves to be taken seriously in November. With Wisconsin and Northwestern also dealing with their own Week 11 issues, the Demon Deacons place in the picture feels less like a side note and more like part of the argument itself, even if the full answer is still waiting on what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Suddenly Has A Real Playoff Shot With Everything Ahead
After a loss to Miami, Wake Forest has steadied itself in a hurry, ripping off seven straight wins and suddenly putting its season in a very different light. The Demon Deacons are now sitting at No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings, a spot that would have sounded far-fetched not long ago but now comes with real meaning as the season enters its final stretch.
The path ahead is still tricky, and not just because the margin for error is so thin. Wake Forests lighter schedule and lack of a marquee win mean the committee may not hand it much benefit of the doubt, so the Deacons likely need to keep stacking wins and possibly get some help elsewhere to make an at-large case. A strong finish could change the conversation entirely, but for now the playoff picture remains open enough to keep every remaining week in play. [Read more 🡒]