Wake Forest didn’t just win in Dallas. The Demon Deacons blew the doors off SMU and left with a 49-7 rout that pushed them a major step closer to the ACC Championship Game.
The Deacons were in control immediately, turning their first possession into a 53-yard scoring drive in six plays and getting on the board with 13:27 left in the quarter. From there, the first half turned into a runaway. Wake Forest piled up six more touchdowns before halftime and went into the break with the game already well out of reach.
Gio Lopez set the tone for the offense. He completed 16 passes for 134 yards and threw a 44-yard touchdown to Carlos Hernandez, one of his favorite targets. Lopez also ran for two touchdowns in the first half, helping Wake keep the pressure on from every angle.
By the time the teams headed to the locker room, Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert had already seen enough to make his point to Dave Goren of the Wake radio broadcast: "We're not finished with them yet. We came for 60 minutes and they've got nowhere to hide."
That was the story of the night. Wake Forest kept hammering away, and SMU had no answer until late in the third quarter.
The Mustangs finally got on the board with 3:55 left in the period after Wake fumbled on its second possession of the half. SMU started at midfield and needed eight plays over a little more than three minutes before Kevin Jennings found Yannick Smith on a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Even then, Wake had more to give. Steele Pizzella replaced Lopez late in the third quarter and immediately added to the lead with a 25-yard run on his first drive.
Pizzella, who also played last week against Merrimack, showed again that Wake Forest is in good hands when Lopez isn’t on the field. That score made it 49-7.
The win moved Wake Forest to 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the ACC. The Deacons’ only conference loss came against Miami on September 18, and since then they’ve ripped off seven straight wins while outscoring opponents 343-65. In the last two games alone, Wake Forest has outscored its opponents 91-0 in the first half.
SMU dropped to 7-3 overall and 5-3 in the ACC, with three conference losses now effectively ending its chase for the ACC Championship Game. The Mustangs had not lost an ACC home conference game in their third season in the league, and that streak ended Saturday.
Wake Forest’s path is now clear enough to see, even if it isn’t fully locked in yet. The Deacons have two regular-season games left: a road trip to Georgia Tech and then a home game against Duke.
If they win both, they are guaranteed a place in the final ACC Championship Game on December 5 in Charlotte. They could even clinch a berth next week, depending on how other games shake out.
The road win added another eye-catching number to Wake Forest’s résumé. It was the Deacons’ fifth road win this season over a Power 4 opponent, with previous road victories coming against Purdue, Louisville, NC State, and California. No other team in the country has five Power 4 road wins.
Wake also moved up to No. 13 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, and this latest road win over a conference opponent should only help when the new rankings are released, depending on how the rest of the weekend plays out.
Dickert made that point after the game, too: "At some point, people have to put respect on our players. We have good players. We have to keep getting better to get to where we want to go."
Next up is Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday, November 21. The Yellow Jackets beat Clemson on Saturday, and the kickoff time will be announced on Sunday. Thanks to Miami’s win over Duke, Wake Forest will clinch a spot in the championship game with a victory over Georgia Tech.
In Other News...
Wake Forest Just Made Its CFP Case Impossible To Ignore
Wake Forest keeps stacking up the kind of wins that force people to pay attention, and the latest one was as convincing as any of them. The Demon Deacons rolled past SMU behind a blistering first half, building a lead so large that the rest of the afternoon became more about maintaining control than proving a point, and the result only added to a run that has turned them into one of the most efficient teams in the country.
The broader case is getting harder to dismiss. Wake Forest has now won six straight games by at least 24 points, sits near the top of several key statistical categories, and has positioned itself squarely in the ACC race with an eye on the championship game. The timing also comes with the program showing some stability off the field, after recent contract extensions for Jake Dickert and offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, leaving the Deacons with both momentum and a clear path to keep pushing their postseason profile higher. [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 🡒]