TLDR: Wake Forest just went into Louisville and knocked off a ranked team. Stanford has scored 13 points in its last 2 ACC games. On Saturday, October 3, the Cardinal fly across the country to Winston-Salem to see whether that gap is as big as it looks.
Wake Forest comes in 3-1 behind transfer QB Gio Lopez, fresh off a road upset at No. 16 Louisville, and hosts a Stanford team that is 1-2 in Tavita Pritchard's first season and has scored 13 points across 2 ACC blowout losses. The main question is whether the Cardinal offense can score against a Wake defense that has given up points in close games. Also in play are a possible letdown for Wake after Louisville and Stanford's long trip east. The board has Wake Forest as a double-digit home favorite.
−Possible letdown at home after an emotional road upset
−Needed 2 overtimes to get past Purdue
−Defense giving up points in close games
There's no pitcher card here, so start with the quarterbacks. Wake Forest runs through Gio Lopez, the North Carolina transfer who put up 350 yards and 3 touchdowns on 21-of-32 passing against Akron in the opener and was at the center of the double-overtime escape at Purdue. Stanford's side is tougher to read. First-year head coach Tavita Pritchard, who coached the Washington Commanders' quarterbacks from 2023 to 2025, came home to rebuild an offense that has barely moved the ball in conference play.
The results tell it plainly. Stanford opened with a 37-27 win over Hawaii, then lost 45-6 to Miami and 35-7 to Duke. That's 13 points in 2 ACC games. Wake has been through tougher games. The Deacons beat Akron 38-16, won 38-36 in 2 overtimes at Purdue, lost 33-20 to a top-5 Miami team, and then won 30-27 at No. 16 Louisville, a road win Jake Dickert celebrated as proof of what the program has been building in his second year. The board makes Wake Forest a double-digit home favorite.
The schedule matters here too. Wake comes home right after an emotional road upset, and a win like that sometimes shows up in the next game as a flat first half. Stanford has the tougher trip, flying from Palo Alto to North Carolina for an early-season conference road game against a team that has won a lot of close ones lately.
For Stanford, the whole game comes down to getting points on the board. Hawaii showed the Cardinal can move the ball against a lighter defense. Miami and Duke showed what happens against ACC fronts. Wake Forest hasn't been dominant on defense. Purdue scored 36 and Louisville scored 27. That gives Pritchard's offense a better chance to find something than it had the last 2 times out.
The forecast shouldn't get in the way: 76 degrees and cloudy, with a 30% chance of rain and 3 mph wind. After this one, Wake goes to NC State and then flies to California, so this is the Deacons' last home game for a while. For a program trying to turn a Louisville upset into a real season, a clean win over a struggling visitor is exactly what they need.
