Who is favored in Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Louisville Cardinals?

Louisville Cardinals are favored on the moneyline.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Louisville Cardinals

Sep 26, 2026·11:00 AM CT·Louisville, KY

By JR·2 min read

WAKE(2-1)

#16 LOU(2-1)

AT

11:00 AM CT

TLDR: Both of these teams sit at 2-1, but they got there in very different ways — and the number in Louisville reflects it.

SAT SEP 26, 11:00 AM CT

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Wake Forest

(2-1)

LWWWL

#16 Louisville

(2-1)

WWLWW

Kickoff70°

Louisville and Wake Forest both sit at 2-1, but the Cardinals got there by knocking off a ranked SMU team while the Demon Deacons' lone loss came against a ranked Miami squad in their ACC opener. Louisville is the far bigger favorite on paper, powered by a big-play rushing attack and a defense that just forced three turnovers, while Wake Forest looks to bounce back on the road after its lowest point total of the season.

Wake Forest

Gio Lopez threw for 350 yards, 3 TDs in 2OT win
Won its first two games before facing a ranked opponent
Managed just 20 points in ACC-opener loss to No. 5 Miami
True road trip with little time to fix issues from that loss

Louisville

Keyjuan Brown ran for 163 yards, 2 long TDs vs SMU
Forced 3 turnovers, committed zero in the upset of No. 16 SMU
Gave up 41 points and lost the opener to Ole Miss
Turns around on a short week after an emotional, physical SMU win

Gio Lopez has been the story of Wake Forest's season. The North Carolina transfer threw for 350 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 38-36 double-overtime win over Purdue, then ran into a different level of competition when No. 5 Miami came to Winston-Salem and left with a 33-20 win in Wake Forest's ACC opener. Louisville counters with Lincoln Kienholz, who's settled into the job since a shootout loss opened his season, behind a Cardinals offense that's started to lean hard on the run.

That run game carried Louisville through the toughest test on its schedule so far. Keyjuan Brown ripped off touchdown runs of 58 and 53 yards against SMU, finishing with 163 yards on just 10 carries, and Louisville won a game it was actually out-gained in by forcing three turnovers to none of its own. It's the kind of performance that explains why Louisville is treated as such a heavy favorite at home here.

The bigger question is how Louisville responds physically and mentally after that kind of win. Beating a ranked opponent in a back-and-forth, turnover-fueled game takes something out of a team, and the Cardinals get almost no time to reset before Wake Forest shows up.

Wake Forest, meanwhile, has to answer for what a ranked defense did to it just days ago. Miami held the Demon Deacons to 20 points after Lopez had thrown for 350 the week before, and now Wake Forest turns around for a true road trip against a Louisville defense that just forced three turnovers out of a ranked SMU offense.

Both teams walk in at 2-1, but how they got there tells two very different stories — Louisville trending up against increasingly tough competition, Wake Forest still looking to answer the one game where it hit a wall. That gap in trajectory is most of what separates them here at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.

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