ACC · Jake Dickert, year 2 (11-5) · Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium · 31,500 · 31,441 avg in 2026
LastL 20–33 vs Miami · Fri Sep 18 · Giovanni Lopez 312 pass yds, 3 TD, 1 INT
Nextat Louisville · Sat Sep 26 · 12 pm ET · L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium · Louisville by 12.5 · series 3-7, last win 2021 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 22 · through week 3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 3 | #81 | #58 | -27.5✗ | Akron | W 38–16 137 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #79 | #118 | -2.5✗ | @Purdue | W 38–36 150 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 18 | #79 | #7 | +20.5✓ | Miami | L 20–33 130 | 2-1 | 0-1 |
| 4 | Sep 26 | #74 | #43 | +12.5 | @Louisville | |||
| 5 | Oct 3 | #73 | #110 | Stanford | ||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @NC State | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | @California | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | Virginia | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | Merrimack | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @SMU | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | @Georgia Tech | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | Duke |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18 | Miami | L 20–33 | 334 | 1 | 26:36 | +0.053 | 42.2% | 127.5% | Season-low EPA/play |
| Sep 12 | @Purdue | W 38–36 | 411 | 0 | 27:48 | +0.357 | 52.2% | 120.3% | Best success rate |
| Sep 3 | Akron | W 38–16 | 559 | 0 | 29:24 | +0.478 | 42.6% | 152.8% | Season-high EPA/play |
| Season average (3 games) | 435 | 0.3 | +0.296 | 45.7% | 133.5% | ||||
Wake Forest is the smallest school in the Power conferences and the program that keeps winning anyway — the place that turns three-star quarterbacks into NFL draft picks and just won nine games in a brand-new coach's first try.
Wake fans are used to being the team analysts forget to mention and the campus visitors can't find. They say being overlooked is a feature — the Deacons recruit the players everyone else passed on…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 9-4 · last season
✓ measured from 13 games · ranks are among ACC teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Mixed. 7-3 over the last 10, and lost the last one.
Next Sep 26
vs Louisville · away
✓ fact on line · ~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-22
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Jake Dickert's second season opens with a 9-4 record and a 0.5-win jump toward a projected winning season, but unease lingers as Wake Forest remains a lower-tier program with #63 talent.
our readdeveloping
Jake Dickert replaces Dave Clawson’s 29-28 run with a 9-4 roster and just 26% production returning — Wake Forest’s small-school identity meets its first test under a new coach.
our readbackground
Chris Barnes is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Sawyer Racanelli is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Wake Forest leaped 41 spots in SP+ — the program’s 9-4 record and #74 talent rank highlight a quiet ascent, but the smallest P5 school’s identity hinges on sustaining momentum.
our readbackground
Wake Forest: coordinator change reshaping a unit.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Wake Forest · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Wake Forest win total rose from 6 to 6.5 (+0.5 wins) between Sep 14 and Sep 16, 2026 (tier C). It is win total up 0.5 — crosses into projected winning season territory. The coverage is already ahead of this. The fan base is aligned with the move. The coverage runs aligned with the move.
The off-field storyline driving the noise right now. Not analysis — the soap opera, and that's the point.
The 'market knows something fans don't' read -- when odds move, it's on information.
The 'markets overcorrect' counter -- lines move on noise too; the receipts may not hold.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 69 of 580 board posts (12%) over the last 60 days — a fanbase consumed by it. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Jake Dickert took over as Wake Forest's head coach, replacing Dave Clawson. It is replaces 11-year head coach Dave Clawson (67-69). It's not the hire that's the story anymore — it's everything it set in motion. The room is genuinely divided — believers and skeptics both have receipts.
The 'this hire changes everything' takes -- new-era believers making the case early.
The 'show me the body of work' counter -- resume gaps, scheme fits, and 'not that guy' reads.
Only 4 of 580 board posts mention it — below our floor to call a community stance. Shown as texture, not a verdict.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
More in this tab
Wake Forest is the smallest P5 school by enrollment and the program that quietly produces nine-win seasons by ignoring its size.
The program ledger
since 2025Former UNC QB named starter at Wake Forest
A former UNC QB walking into Truist Field as the Week 1 starter tells you exactly where Dickert's rebuild is — raiding the rival's depth chart to fill the most critical spot on the roster.
Wake Forest releases first depth chart
First depth chart under Dickert with two draft departures still showing — the WR pressure is real, and how that room shakes out tells you everything about whether this class punches above #39.
Wake Forest releases Week 1 depth chart
Two NFL Draft departures already carved into the roster and WR pressure still unresolved — Dickert's Week 1 depth chart is the first real answer to whether the rebuild penciled in or actually filled out.
Former QB Alphonso Smith Jr. dies
Alphonso Smith Jr. wore the No. 2 long before he ever took a snap — Wake Forest stops and remembers one of their own today, all the depth charts and bowl races paused.
Wittingburg commits to Wake Forest
Two NFL Draft departures gutted the WR room and a 63rd-ranked class wasn't going to paper over it alone — Wittingburg is Dickert's most direct answer to a depth problem that's been on the board since January.
Gabe Fraser commits to Wake Forest
Dickert's class sits 63rd nationally and the WR room has been the loudest concern all spring — Fraser is pressure relief, not just a depth add.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
GA leads the 2026 class with 7 commits. National footprint reaching 13 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
96 signees across 21 states, 2023-2026. GA leads the pull.
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Wake Forest player grew up 415 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 98 of 116 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
Among the stronger offseasons on record for this program
80th percentile among FBS programs
The flags haven't favored them: 28 penalties committed vs. 20 drawn on opponents, 127 yards behind.
287 penalty yards committed vs. 160 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Wake Forest · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026