In case you have not noticed, and many of you have not, Wake Forest is for real. The Demon Deacons used a huge second half to overwhelm North Carolina State 38-14 in Raleigh on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Wake Forest Blasts NC State, 38-14
A Slow-ish Start
The first half saw a real lack of execution by the Deacs. The second half was a completely different story. Wake outgained NC State 277 to 60 in total yards over the last two quarters. Receiver Jack Foley had six catches for 108 yards in the third quarter alone. The Deacs are now 5-1 overall and 3-1 in ACC play. NC State had won three out of the last four matchups. But this is a different Wake team. The win over Louisville was good. But NC State beat the Cardinals the next week. Now Wake has handled the Wolfpack also.
It was not an obvious early on. Wake Forest did score first. NC State quarterback CJ Bailey scrambled on third down. Wake linebacker Vinny Firenze stripped the ball. It was recovered by defensive back Braylon Johnson and returned to the North Carolina State two-yard line. Wake quarterback Gio Lopez connected with a wide-open Matthew Lusardi for the touchdown pass. It was Lusardi’s first catch ever for Wake Forest. The two-play, two-yard, 39-second drive put Wake up 7-0.
Trying to Keep Up With CJ Bailey
But the rest of the first half was not that easy for Wake. Head coach Jake Dickert had talked during the week about the difference between this year and last year’s loss to NC State was an ability to get a better read on Bailey. It was not so evident in the first two quarters.
Even with a makeshift offensive line in front of him (NC State lost three starters, plus another regular to injuries), Bailey had all day to operate in the pocket in the first half.
He engineered a nine-play, 75-yard drive, completing a pass to Chance Johnson in the right corner of the end zone to tie the game at 7-7.
The Wolfpack went up 14-7 in the second quarter. Bailey put together a 96-yard drive that ended with him throwing a two-yard jump pass to Hunter Provienece for the 14-7 lead.
Going into the Half
Wake had a chance to tie it at the end of the first half. But an illegal formation penalty pushed them off the one-yard line. They settled for a 23-yard Connor Calvert field goal to shrink the NC State lead to 14-10. The lost opportunity for a touchdown seemed big, but getting any points was still key.
“Well, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation at halftime,” Dickert said after the game. But in the same breath, he repeatedly gave credit to his coaching staff that made the adjustments for what was to come. And it was on a large scale. Wake outscored NC State 28-0 in the second half. The Deacs outgained the Wolfpack 277 total yards to 60. And about half of that NC State 60 came in the closing few minutes of the game.
Photo courtesy: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images
A Different Wake Team
Lopez led an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. The big play was Lopez rolling to his left and finding Carlos Hernandez along the left sideline for an 18-yard reception. With Hernandez tiptoeing the sideline, it could have gone for eight more yards and a touchdown, but he was ruled out at the eight-yard line. Two plays later, on third and goal from the six-yard line, Lopez ripped a pass to Hernandez in the front of the end zone for the touchdown. Wake had its first lead at 17-14, and the Deacs never trailed again.
Later in the quarter, Lopez connected with Foley along the left sideline for a 52-yard pass completion to the NC State 11-yard line. Lopez would go to Foley again in the middle of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown and the 24-14 lead.
Putting It Out of Reach
Lopez expanded the lead to 31-14 with a run up the middle from about a half-yard out. He was stuffed at the line but kept pushing until he was in the end zone.
The final Wake scoring was the more conventional type…on the ground. The drive covered 66 yards in seven plays and featured 40 yards on three carries by Deuce Lawrence. The last 17 of those yards were right up the middle, virtually untouched for the score to make it 38-14.
Lopez finished the game 26 of 33 passing for 303 yards and three touchdowns to go with his one rushing touchdown. He had only one incompletion in the entire second half. After the game, his head coach said, “I think Gio Lopez is THAT guy.” And the difference between the first 30 minutes and the end result? “We challenged them at halftime. It felt like we lacked a little intensity out of the gates,” Dickert said. “I think when we have an idea of what you’re going to do, what you need to do to try to defeat us, our coaches are in a really good position to put our players out there to make big plays.”
The Last Word
Wake Forest takes its three-game winning streak to Berkeley next week for a game against Cal with a 10:30 p.m. East Coast kickoff.
We will have more post-game coverage of the Wake Forest win over NC State on Sunday morning.