Winston-Salem, NC -Tough and talented No. 5 Miami (3-0) dominated the second quarter into the early third to defeat Wake Forest, 33-20. They amassed 31 points before the Demon Deacons sparked to life late. Wake Forest threatened with a comeback marred by critical penalties and one very evident non-call. QB Darian Mensah propelled the Hurricanes quickly. He completed his first 24 passes. Most of his 220 passing yards (30 for 34, 3 TDs) came on short passes to elusive All-American WR Malachi Toney (12 catches for 114 yards, 1 TD). He connected with eight Cane receivers in all. No interceptions. The most yards on any one play went for 28 yards.
To start the game with a 92-yard drive, he capped it with WR Joshua Moore on a nine-yard toss. The Demon Deacons (2-1) equaled the feat with a 75-yard drive. QB Gio Lopez connected with WR Kamrean Johnson on a diving, backward 10-yard TD reception in the back, right corner of the end zone.
Miami owns second quarter
Play continued into the second period knotted, 7-7. From there, the Canes dominated on both sides of the ball. They polished off their next possession when Mensah found Elijah Lofton wide-open down the left sideline for a 21-yard score. The defense held Wake to punt after three-and out. The Canes began from their 21. CharMar Brown ran 32 yards to the Deacon one. Taken off the field, he later left the sideline on a cart. Postgame reports described his injury as “gruesome.” TV would not show the replay. Mark Fletcher, who runs tough and hard, carried it in from there (16 carries, 85 yards, 1 TD) to lead, 21-7.
Through the second period, Miami halted the Demon Deacon offense to three three-and outs. Following the two-minute time-out. Mensah fired a short pass left to Toney who sped 27 yards to the Wake Forest 32. The Hurricanes took it down to the 10-yard line. As time expired, Jake Weinberg converted for the 24-7 halftime lead with a 27-yard FG. What’s more from a defensive perspective, the Miami defense shut down Wakes’ key WR Carlos Henandez to no receptions. He played a key role last season in the win we attended over North Carolina.
Third period starts like the second
Though Hernandez finally caught a pass for one yard, the Demon Deacons netted -10 yards on its first possession and punted. Miami went back to business from its 44. The Canes mixed rushes and Mensah continued completing all his passes. The last on this drive he fired to Toney in the end zone for a two-yard TD. In my notes, I recorded a possible byline: “Tough and talented Miami blasts Wake Forest…”
All of a sudden, a 13-yard run by Deuce Johnson, a completion to Hernandez and two consecutive completions to WR Drayden Dickman finally broke the Deacons three-and-out trend. A sack followed by a roughing call on Lopez kept the Deacs moving to the 23. There, Lopez fired a pass to WR Jack Foley for a 23-yard catch and run down the right side for a touchdown. A two-point conversion attempt called by HC Jake Dickert failed. The Demon Deacs trailed, 31-13, with 4:00 left in the third.
Hurricane winds to tropical storm
On the ensuing kickoff, a holding call and unsportsmanlike against Miami pushed them back on their 12-yard line. Mensah finally threw an incomplete pass. The Deacon fans among the 32,147 in Allegacy FCU Stadium began to feed off some of the emotion emanating from their team on the field. The defense finally forced Miami to punt from their 20. Lopez called signals from the 37.
He went on a tear completing five straight passes ending the third period at the Miami 17 with a first and ten. He brought back memories of seeing QB Diego Pavia play last season at Vanderbilt. Lopez had a similar knack for rolling the opposite direction away from rushing defenders. Like him, he escaped to connect accurately with targets down field. Wake Forest die-hard and alumnus Earl Beasly told me before the game that Gio definitely brought improvement to the passing attack this season. His reunion with OC Rob Ezell seemed to be working out as intended.
Demon Deacons find a groove, but flags galore!
Four seconds into the fourth, Lopez hit Hernandez with a scoring strike in the right corner. The refs flagged Hernandez for unsportsmanlike, negating another two-point conversion. Connor Calvert put up the long extra point to trail now, 31-20. The Demon Deacon defense rose to the occasion once more. The gaps closed quicker now against the Miami running game. CB DaVaughn Patterson broke quickly to break up a Mensah pass. Again, they forced a Cane punt. Hernandez returned it 27 yards to the Wake 47. Flag on the play. Holding set the Deacs back on their ten.
On third and ten under pressure, Lopez launched a pass from the end zone, and a flag flew. Holding! Team safety extended Miami’s lead, 33-20, and gave them the ball back. Starting from their 37, the Demon Deacs defense fought back once again. A tackle for loss, a one-yard pass, and a hurry for an incompletion demonstrated the increased intensity by Wake Forest. Miami punted. Once again Hernandez fielded the ball to set Wake up on their 22.
Deacon drive thwarted with no flag
On a second and six, Lopez connected with Jack Foley (6 receptions, 118 yards, 1TD) with a 49-yard pass to take his team to the Miami 19. Another five-yard completion put the Deacs at the Miami 14. The next play killed the Deacon momentum of the possible comeback. On second and five, Lopez targeted Foley on the right side of the end zone. With his back to the pass and grabbing Foley’s arms, S Bryce Fitgerald definitely interfered, but no flag flew. Looked evident on the video replay. No review, of course. The Canes held there, taking the ball back on downs on an incomplete pass to Hernandez with 8:51 left. An accurate call by the refs here could eventually have gotten the Deacs to within one score with plenty of time left.
Another shot to close on Miami, but a flag flew
From the 14, Miami only gained a yard before its ensuing punt. The short passes by Mensah that turned into big yards in the first half came to a halt. The Deacons held Toney to a one-yard gain and Cooper Barkate’s catch to no yards at all, followed by a hurried incompletion. The Canes punted again. This time, Hernandez fielded the ball back on about his 30. He raced forward, dodged, and evaded Miami tacklers all the way to the Miami 10-yard line where he got forced out. Flag! Holding!
The play came back all the way to the Wake Forest 35. In the end, Wake Forest picked up 13 penalties for 122 yards. Miami incurred seven for 75. Of course, the Deacons could only gain 22 yards on the ground. Miami rushed for 158. Despite Lopez’s late start, Wake out gunned Miami through the air, 312 yards to 220.
With 7:15 left to play
Wake started from its 35. Weinberg returned to attempt a 54-yard FG. The Deac defense would have none of it. DT Zach Lohavichan blocked in right up the middle. Wake started from its 23. Lopez continued to move his offense all the way down to the Miami 22. On third and ten, Cane CB Ethan O’Connor recorded the only turnover of the game with an INT to halt the drive. Six plays later, Miami went into the Victory formation after a hard-fought game that could have been lost to the feisty Wake Forest team that offered several late challenges.
Two lessons learned in this battle
Wake grad, our host, and die-hard fan Jim “Bug” Harton offered two perspectives after the game. He thought Miami may come away a “little embarrassed” by the way they won. He also thought they’d be little more concerned that they found his Deacs may signal more ACC challenges lying ahead than anticipated. On the other hand, he came away feeling better about his Deacs stepping up and not giving in to a very good Miami team. He believes this game provided some confidence for this Deacons going forward for the rest of the 2026 season.
Preview to Week Four
Hopefully for Jim, he’ll hope his team’s confidence will carry them well into next Saturday’s game. The Demon Deacons head up to Louisville (2-1) where the Cardinals, now ranked No. 16 come off a big 41-31 win over previous No. 16 SMU in a key ACC clash. The Deacons other key ACC games this season are home against Virginia (2-1) on October 31 and at SMU on November 14.
Miami hosts Central Michigan (2-1) of the MAC next week. They return to ACC play at Clemson on Oct. 3 and play their toughest challenge at No. 3 Notre Dame on November 7. They play neither Louisville nor SMU this season, to Bug’s chagrin, until possibly at the ACC championship in Charlotte on December 5. Biggest ACC challenges for the Canes may come at home against Pitt and Duke at best. In this week’s AP Poll, they fell from No. 5 to No. 6.
Collegefootballfan.com – Game 455 tomorrow before two Week Four meetings
On Saturday on the way home, we stopped in Greenville, Tennessee to see two D2 teams go at it. In a South Atlantic Conference game, Anderson of South Carolina (2-1) visits the Tusculum Pioneers (2-1). Never been there nor seen these two teams. They just conveniently fell into our schedule to see them compete on our way home. Look for a short review on this one by Tuesday.
Next week, we again plan to attend two games. On Friday night, we’ll see an American Athletic contest when Navy (1-1) visits Alabama-Birmingham (1-2). The following day, we’ll travel to New Orleans from UAB to see Tulane (1-2), also of the American Athletic, host Southern Mississippi (1-2) of the Sun Belt. They’ll play in their traditional Bell Ringer rivalry. Should we bring ear plugs? The 6:30 pm CT matchup will be our first ever at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium or any other home venue they played in before.
Read more fun history of many games attended our first 42 Seasons!
If you haven’t already, please click on the title about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Among 745 college games attended to date now, we’ve seen all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play in person. In 2026, in case you aren’t aware, North Dakota State and Sacramento State join the FBS this season. “Fifty Years” tells our story of how we got to attend our first 652 games!
Read the reviews on the book page and order your copy today. If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023. Hopefully, you’ll understand how much we love this sport and what we propose for it to survive successfully. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales.
Capture some memories
Please buy your copy today and read about the many great memories captured. Maybe some will bring back some of the same memories you encountered when we did. And to us this isn’t a job. It’s our lifelong adventure!
Edited and written by Stephen J. Koreivo, member of Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Author of “Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.”
