Remember last year when Wake Forest barely scraped by Kennesaw State with a nail-biting 10-9 win in Week 1? Yeah, forget that. This season, the Demon Deacons came out firing, absolutely demolishing the Akron Zips 38-16 in their home opener Thursday night. It’s a completely different team, a whole new vibe, and the results are speaking for themselves.
Wake Forest Came Out Swinging, Akron Had No Answers
From the jump, it was clear this wasn’t the same Deacs squad. Their very first drive? Eight plays, 82 yards, straight to the end zone. Quarterback Gio Lopez hit Kam Shanks for a 27-yard strike, with Shanks doing the last seven yards himself for the score. Just like that, 7-0. Akron’s QB situation was a mess, too. Redshirt freshman Cibastian Broughton was making his college debut, with Reese Poffenbarger’s NCAA waiver not granted and presumed backup Brayden Raggow not starting. Broughton’s first drive? Sacked on third down by Matt Herron and Dallas Afalava for a three-and-out. Wake capitalizes immediately with a 25-yard field goal from Connor Calvert.
Then Lopez and Antonio Meeks decided it was highlight reel time. After a 17-yard gain, they hooked up again, and Meeks just *burned* the Akron defense for a ridiculous 72-yard touchdown. You blink, it’s 17-0. Travon West forces a fumble, Calvert adds another 29-yard field goal, and then Lopez connects with Carlos Hernandez on a 4-yard pass that Hernandez turns into a 74-yard sideline sprint for a TD. Throw in a two-point conversion, and it’s 28-0. The Zips were cooked early, scoring only a 28-yard field goal before half. Wake was up 28-3 at the break, and honestly, the game was over.
Lopez Is Already Outperforming Last Year, And It’s Not Close
Let’s talk about Gio Lopez for a second. This dude went 17 of 25 for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Get this: that’s *more* passing yards than he had in any *complete game* last season at North Carolina. He had more passing yards in the *first half alone* than Akron had in total offense for the *entire game*, which was only 305 yards. Unreal. Wake Forest finished with a staggering 559 total yards of offense. That’s a statement, plain and simple.
The second half was just running out the clock. Calvert hit another field goal, this one from 26 yards, making it 31-3. Deuce Lawrence punched in a four-yard touchdown run, pushing the lead to 38-3. Akron eventually got a garbage-time TD from Roggow to Elijah Alexander, but who cares? The Demon Deacons dominated, and their offense looks like a whole new beast. With Lopez slinging it like that, Wake Forest fans have a ton to look forward to this season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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