Three corners down, one Heisman candidate to stop
Miami travel to Winston-Salem on Friday night without three regular cornerbacks.
Xavier Lucas picked up an injury last week. O.J. Frederique and Ja’Boree Antoine are both out for an extended spell. That pushes Bryce Fitzgerald into more work at corner and moves JJ Dunning into further reps at safety, a week after both drew starting assignments against Florida A&M.
Wake Forest will aim Gio Lopez at whatever is left. The North Carolina transfer ranks 15th nationally and fifth in the ACC for passing yards per game at 287.5. He has thrown four touchdowns and no interceptions, and added 97 rushing yards with two more scores.
Mario Cristobal spent Monday describing the problem rather than talking around it.
“Needless to say, he’s playing at a really high level,” the Miami coach said of Lopez. “People who are saying he was banged up, he’s not. That guy just took over the game, very physical.”
Try it for $0.99.
Two transfer quarterbacks, one ACC opener
Darian Mensah moved from Duke to Miami and now leads the country in completion percentage at 91.1. His passer rating of 271.67 sits second nationally behind Georgia’s Gunner Stockton. He threw five touchdowns in a 45-6 win at Stanford on Sept. 4 and three more in a 77-7 result against Florida A&M last Thursday.
Lopez went from North Carolina to Wake Forest, joining a program that finished 9-4 and won the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Jake Dickert’s first year in charge.
He has taken the Demon Deacons (2-0) to a second straight 2-0 start. They beat Akron at home, then won 38-36 in double overtime at Purdue. Trailing in the second overtime, Lopez converted a fourth-and-15 right on the sticks, ran in a 3-yard touchdown to level the game, then ran the two-point conversion that won it. He finished 16-of-27 for 225 yards and a touchdown, with 59 rushing yards and two scores.
“It was a fun win,” Dickert said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”
Eighty years since the last one
Wake Forest open ACC play as a 21-point home underdog. Beating Miami would deliver only the second win over a top-five team in school history. The first came 80 years ago against No. 4 Tennessee.
Dickert wants his defense to tackle better. It ranks 12th in the ACC for passing yards allowed per game and 13th for rushing yards allowed.
“I think I emphasize too much,” he said. “We got to take this guy low. We were just diving too much.”
Miami (2-0, 1-0 ACC) have won the last eight meetings and lead the series 9-3. They are 4-0 all time in Winston-Salem, though they have not played there since 2009.
Discover the rest of our college football news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply