Our side
MoneylineLOU to win
ours 66%
Projected score
24–32
WAKE – LOU
2026-09-26 · kickoff TBD
L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium · Louisville, KY
ACC game
Early season
The books
No book has priced this game. Nothing to compare, and no ticket to build.
Series
Louisville lead
7–3
· 10 meetings since 2006
2025 unit ranks —
last completed season, from games actually played
Run game
even
11 ranks apart
Wake Forest Demon Deacons #83 rush offense
Louisville Cardinals #94 run defense
Pass game
edge Louisville Cardinals
134 ranks
Wake Forest Demon Deacons #139 pass offense
Louisville Cardinals #5 pass defense
Run game
even
6 ranks apart
Louisville Cardinals #25 rush offense
Wake Forest Demon Deacons #19 run defense
Pass game
edge Wake Forest Demon Deacons
178 ranks
Louisville Cardinals #209 pass offense
Wake Forest Demon Deacons #31 pass defense
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Balanced · 53% run
Ball-control
Dual-threat QB · 46 rush ypg
Louisville Cardinals
Balanced · 49% run
Ball-control
Jake Dickert · 32-24 · defense-minded
Jeff Brohm · 86-51 · defense-minded
Ranked by team-unit strength
(rush & pass offense vs. run & pass defense) across all 265
D1 teams, not by individual players. Identity, tempo and unit strength are measured from the
2025 season.
The evidence 2025 production and power ratings · supporting the number above
Who carried each team in 2025
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
QB
Gio Lopez
575 pass yds · 4 TD · 0 INT
#4 QB
K
Connor Calvert
6 FG · 6 XP · 24 pts
#10 K
WR
Carlos Hernandez
11 rec · 253 yds · 1 TD
#49 WR
LB
Vincent Firenze
20 tkl · 2.0 TFL
#49 LB
Louisville Cardinals
QB
Lincoln Kienholz
639 pass yds · 4 TD · 0 INT
#1 QB
WR
Tre Richardson
11 rec · 181 yds · 1 TD
#69 WR
TE
Jaleel Skinner
5 rec · 137 yds · 1 TD
#23 TE
WR
Lawayne McCoy
5 rec · 164 yds · 2 TD
#102 WR
Top-rated players from last season, ranked within their
position across D1. A grade measures what a player produced, and no
2026 game has been played yet — so this is who produced for
these programs in 2025, not a claim about who is on the field this year.
Power breakdown
Def is higher = better. The projection assumes a 2.4-pt home edge (0 at neutral sites).
Where the number comes from
Wake Forest offense vs Louisville defense+2.8 pts
Louisville offense vs Wake Forest defense+8.3 pts
An efficiency adjustment from season-to-date EPA and success rate applies once teams have
played enough games; before then it is 0 and the number is the power rating alone.