Wake Forest seems to be charging toward another special season, appearing in the Top 10 for the second consecutive year.
Sam Hartman has been in a groove again, and the Demon Deacons quarterback is putting his mark throughout the record books.
So the next task will involve dealing with a slightly resurgent Louisville team when the No. 10 Demon Deacons visit Louisville, Ky., on Saturday.
“I think we’re a good team,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “We have really good football players here. You don’t win as many as we’ve won the last few years here without having some really talented football players. We’ll just try to keep going here.”
Wake Forest (6-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won three games in a row by double-digit spreads since a double-overtime loss to unbeaten Clemson. The Demon Deacons are 10th in the country in scoring offense (41.4 points a game).
Louisville (4-3, 2-3) has its own form of momentum by winning back-to-back games since a one-point loss at Boston College.
That modest streak only goes so far, however, as Cardinals coach Scott Satterfield wants his team’s attention to be squarely on the Demon Deacons.
“It’s all about a really, really good Wake Forest team,” Satterfield said. “They’ve got a great offense and a great quarterback that can score a lot of points. It’ll be a lot of work that we’re going to have to do. We just take it one at a time, and hopefully we can stack some of these up.”
Hartman accounted for six touchdowns (five passing, one rushing) in last week’s Boston College game. With 93 career touchdown throws, he ranks third on the all-time ACC list — two behind former North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers.
“He doesn’t get the credit that he deserves,” Clawson said of Hartman. “There’s not another quarterback in the country I would rather have. His level of play has been so high for so long.”
Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham has piled up his numbers in different ways, running for nine touchdowns and throwing for five. He threw for two touchdowns for the first time this season last week against Pitt.
“An unbelievable quarterback that can make you miss and throw the ball,” Clawson said of Cunningham, whose 309 passing yards last year against the Demon Deacons marks his highest single-game total in 2021 or 2022.
Louisville’s defense has forced at least three turnovers in each of its last four games. That’s the longest such stretch for the Cardinals in 22 years.
“Playing as a team — as a whole playing fast, playing I don’t care if I make a mistake,” defensive back Benjamin Perry said.
The Demon Deacons have been moving fast as well.
A year ago in a 37-34 home victory, Wake Forest receiver Taylor Morin had a career-high 122 receiving yards and a touchdown. He caught two touchdown passes last week.
The 2021 meeting between Wake Forest and Louisville is the last time the Cardinals tangled with a ranked opponent. Satterfield’s teams are 0-3 all-time against Top 10 opposition.
Wake Forest has won in just one of four visits to Louisville, in 2018.
–Field Level Media
