With the game against Wake Forst fast approaching I reached out to Adam Bridgers from Blogger So Dear to learn more about the Demon Deacons and try to get some insight before the two teams face off on Saturday. Adam also sent me some questions which I answered so be sure to head over there to check out his questions and my answers when they are posted.
Purdue football and Wake Forest football don’t often interact. For those fans looking for a crash course on this WF team, how would you describe them?
For years under Dave Clawson, Wake Forest was a team that put up a ton of points and had basically no defense at all–they won by just outscoring the opponent in shootout style games. In Jake Dickert’s first season as head coach, he completely flipped that. The Deacs were 8-0 last season when they held their opponent to under 30 points and 0-4 when they did not. In 3 of those wins, the Wake offense failed to reach 17 points. Lower scoring, defensive battles will probably be the norm this season as well, though Gio Lopez could make the offense a bit better.
What’s the identity of this offense given all the turnover on that side of the ball?
Last season the Deacs relied heavily on the run game because of inconsistency at QB and Demond Claiborne (drafted in the 6th round by the Vikings). Based on their first game against Akron last week, Wake is going to air it out far more this season. Wake had 300+ passing yards in the first half and really didn’t start trying to run the ball until the 3rd quarter when they were already up 28-3. I guess there is always a chance that the staff was just trying to keep all the good running plays off of the game tape for this week, but it definitely seems like Wake is going to let Lopez throw it a bit more than they did last season.
Gio Lopez is the starter at QB for the Demon Deacons, in a familiar situation for most teams in college football he previously played elsewhere (South Alabama and North Carolina), in what will be just his second game with the team. What are his strengths and weaknesses?
Lopez is in a bit of a better situation because he played with Wake OC Rob Ezell in 2024 at South Alabama, so he is more familiar with the system than a lot of transfer QBs. His accuracy has been a consistent strength for him throughout his career–Lopez has completed over 65% of his passes in each of his 3 collegiate seasons thus far. He’s got solid mobility and is a threat to run the ball when he has a coaching staff that will let him. As for weaknesses, it’s hard for me to say anything definitive right now because the Akron defense didn’t really present much of a challenge in week 1. Lopez finished the first half with 313 yards passing and 3 touchdowns and didn’t really throw the ball too much after that.
Other than Lopez, who should the Purdue defense be looking out for when the Wake Forest offense is on the field?
Wide Receiver Carlos Hernandez is the big playmaker on the Wake Forest offense. He can turn even the most mundane completion into a big play with his legs and is usually the guy Wake is looking for anytime they need to convert a 3rd down. Last week against Akron, he had 5 catches for 165 yards and a touchdown and didn’t even play in the 2nd half. He was also one of the better punt returners in the country last season.
On the defensive side of the ball Wake Forest had more continuity coming into this season. Is there a unit that stands out as the strength of the defense?
The linebackers are probably the strongest unit this season. Former Dayton safety Vincent Firenze, who changed positions in the offseason, was a great addition to an already pretty solid group. Firenze finished the first game against Akron with 9 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and a forced fumble in just 23 snaps played, earning him ACC Linebacker of the Week honors. Redshirt sophomore Frank Cusano also had 9 tackles against Akron, and while senior Aiden Hall didn’t do very much last week, he had 73 tackles and 8 tackles for loss in 2025, so I’m not too worried about that.
Last week Akron was able to run for 149 yards against Wake Forest. Is there an opening there for the Boilermakers to try and do some damage on the ground?
About half of those 149 rushing yards (67) came in the 4th quarter against the 2nd and 3rd team. Purdue might be able to do some damage on the ground on Saturday simply because they have better players than Akron, but I don’t think the Deacs are super concerned about the run defense after the first game.
If Wake Forest loses this game what do you think went wrong for them?
Turnovers and penalties. I think Wake is the better team going into Saturday, but turning the ball over a bunch and getting too many penalties on the road is a surefire way to lose a game as a favorite. Turnovers weren’t so much an issue against Akron, but the Deacs were penalized 11 times for 115 yards last week–that’s tied for the 5th most yards in the nation currently. That’s not really anything new, as Wake was 6th in penalty yards last season.
Finally, what’s your prediction for Saturday?
This one is kind of tough because I don’t really think either team played enough competition last week to accurately gauge how good they are going to be this season. I’ll take Wake by a score of 27-21.
