Carlos Hernandez went for 165 receiving yards for Wake Forest
A comfortable Wake Forest win. The film says it was less about fireworks than you'd think.
Giovanni Lopez scored 18 of Wake Forest's points. They rout Akron, 38-16 at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium. Wake Forest led from start to finish and never let Akron within striking distance. Giovanni Lopez threw for 350 yards on 32 attempts with three touchdowns and ran seven times for 39 yards.
The big plays only went one way
Wake Forest produced 12 plays of 15+ yards to Akron's 3, led by Giovanni Lopez (involved in 9), Carlos Hernandez (involved in 5) and Ty Clark III (involved in 3). Wake Forest scored on 64% of its drives to Akron's 27%: Giovanni Lopez (18 pts), Carlos Hernandez (6 pts) and Antonio Meeks (6 pts). Stacked together, it was never close.
How the two sides actually played on the night.
The standouts
Giovanni Lopez threw for 350 yards on 32 attempts with three touchdowns and ran seven times for 39 yards — four third-down conversions and a hand in nine plays of 15 yards or more. Carlos Hernandez caught five passes for 165 yards, one of them for a touchdown, with two third-down conversions and a hand in five plays of 15 yards or more. Antonio Meeks caught three passes for 93 yards, one of them for a touchdown. For Akron, Brayden Roggow threw for 45 yards on seven attempts with two touchdowns — two of them from inside the 20. Titus Myers caught one pass for 4 yards for a touchdown, including that score from inside the 20. Jordan Gant ran eight times for 15 yards and caught one pass for 5 yards. Braylon Johnson was the disruptive one for Wake Forest: 1 sack, 1 TFL, 4.5 tackles.
What Akron has to fix
The problems had names: Jordan Gant (1 lost fumble).
The disruptive ones
Two names to keep: Braylon Johnson (1 sack, 1 TFL, 4.5 tackles) for Wake Forest and Vincent Firenze (1 TFL, 1 forced fumble, 6.5 tackles) for Wake Forest. 2 of Wake Forest's 3 sacks came from the defensive line, which is how this defense has generated pressure since 2016.
How it unfolded
Wake Forest struck first through Giovanni Lopez, led 28-3 at the half and the final points came on a late touchdown by Brayden Roggow.
How it graded
The closing line had Wake Forest -27.5. Akron covered. The total was 50.5; the teams combined for 54, an over. Brayden Roggow accounted for 12 of Akron's points.
Where it leaves them
Historically similar games since 2019 — close margin, both offenses held far below norm — and how often that offense outperformed this level the following week.
Wake Forest cleared the bar with room to spare; Akron goes back to the drawing board.
Discussion
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