Wake Forest — ACC
HC
Jake Dickert · Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium · Winston-Salem, NC · 31,500 cap
PPA off / def
0.16 / 0.04
2025
Class rank
#39
class of 2026
Returning PPA
14%
returning production
2026 schedule
| Wk | Opponent | All-time series | Venue |
|---|
| wk1 | vs Akron | | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk2 | at Purdue | Purdue leads 4–1 | Ross-Ade Stadium |
| wk3 | vs Miami | Miami leads 9–3 · L8 | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk4 | at Louisville | Louisville leads 7–3 | L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk5 | vs Stanford | leads 2–1 | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk6 | at NC State | NC State leads 70–42–5 | Carter-Finley Stadium |
| wk7 | at California | California leads 1–0 | California Memorial Stadium |
| wk9 | vs Virginia | Virginia leads 33–18 | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk10 | vs Merrimack | | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
| wk11 | at SMU | SMU leads 3–1 | Gerald J. Ford Stadium |
| wk12 | at Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech leads 25–8 · L5 | Bobby Dodd Stadium |
| wk13 | vs Duke | Duke leads 60–39–2 · L4 | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
2025 results (9–4)
Statistical comps — 2025 Wake Forest's closest analogs
Nearest neighbors by z-scored success rate, explosiveness, run rate & havoc (offense + defense), 2015–25.
2025 leaders
Transfer portal — 2026 (24 in / 23 out)
Origins
The smallest school in the Power Four by a wide margin. Grobe's 2006 team won the ACC and reached the Orange Bowl, which for Wake is roughly equivalent to a national title anywhere else.
Founded 1834 · Baptist manual labor institute, moved to Winston-Salem in 1956 on Reynolds tobacco money · first football 1888 · defined by Jim Grobe
All-time record
All-time
495–693–31
1908–2025
Win %
41.9%
118 seasons played
Winning seasons
40
34% of seasons
| Best seasons | W | L | Conference |
|---|
| 2021 | 11 | 3 | ACC |
| 2006 | 11 | 3 | ACC |
| 2025 | 9 | 4 | ACC |
| 2007 | 9 | 4 | ACC |
| 1944 | 8 | 1 | Southern |
Season records from CollegeFootballData, which is why the span starts at 1908 — that is where its coverage of this program begins, not necessarily the first year it fielded a team.
Play-calling tendencies (2025 · garbage time excluded)
| Situation | Plays | Run % | Success % | Nat'l | Avg yds | Expl % |
|---|
| 1st down | 341 | 58% |
41% | 103 of 136 | 6.6 | 16% |
| 2nd down | 238 | 45% |
33% | 128 of 136 | 5.7 | 11% |
| 3rd & short (≤3) | 44 | 84% |
59% | — | 3.1 | 5% |
| 3rd & medium (4–7) | 61 | 20% |
52% | — | 8.0 | 16% |
| 3rd & long (8+) | 64 | 30% |
19% | — | 5.9 | 14% |
| 4th down | 20 | 50% |
55% | — | 2.5 | 0% |
174 drives · 31% ended in points · 6.6 plays and 34.1 yards per drive · 0.69 PPA per drive
Success: 50% of yardage needed on 1st, 70% on 2nd, 100% on 3rd/4th. Explosive: 12+ yd rush / 16+ yd pass. National rank is shown only for 1st and 2nd down, where every team has 100+ plays; the later buckets average 18-43 and a rank there would be noise.
League leaderboard →Most valuable plays (by PPA, 2025)
| Wk | Opp | Play | Yds | PPA |
|---|
| 13 | Delaware |
Carlos Hernandez 93 Yd pass from Robby Ashford (Matthew Dennis Kick) |
93 | 7.21 |
| 2 | Western Carolina |
Demond Claiborne run for 85 yds for a TD (Connor Calvert KICK) |
85 | 7.14 |
| CFP | Mississippi State |
Ty Clark III 62 Yd pass from Robby Ashford (Connor Calvert Kick) |
62 | 6.52 |
| 13 | Delaware |
No Huddle-Shotgun #2 R.Ashford pass complete deep right to #8 C.Hernandez caught at Delawa… |
79 | 6.33 |
| CFP | Mississippi State |
Shotgun #2 R.Ashford pass complete deep middle to #89 J.Foley caught at MSU19, for 64 yard… |
64 | 6.19 |
| 12 | North Carolina |
Carlos Hernandez 70 Yd pass from Robby Ashford (Connor Calvert Kick) |
70 | 5.98 |
| 12 | North Carolina |
Carlos Hernandez 51 Yd Run (Connor Calvert Kick) |
51 | 5.88 |
| 10 | Florida State |
End of 4th quarter. |
88 | 5.65 |