NC State opens as road favorite at Wake Forest
NC State won its second game in a row with its victory over Miami on Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium, and it is now a road favorite in this weekend’s game. The Wolfpack opened as a 3-point favorite, according to the opening line at Circa Sports.
NC State (6-3, 3-2 ACC) is coming off a 20-6 win over the Hurricanes, while Wake Forest (4-5, 1-5 ACC) enters the game off a 24-21 loss at Duke on Thursday night.
The Wolfpack is 3-5-1 against the spread this season, and it has covered its last two games against Clemson (won 24-17, +10) and Miami (won 20-6, +6.5).
While Wake Forest has four wins on the season, its against the spread record is identical. The Demon Deacons have covered the spread against Vanderbilt (won 36-20, -9.5), at Clemson (lost 17-12, +21), Pittsburgh (won 21-17, +2.5) and at Duke (lost 24-21, +6.5). Wake failed to cover against Elon (won 37-17, -32.5), at Old Dominion (won 27-24, -13.5), Georgia Tech (lost 30-16, -3.5), at Virginia Tech (lost 30-13, +1.5) and Florida State (lost 41-16, +20.5).
The Demon Deacons are led by quarterback Mitch Griffis, who has thrown for 1,534 yards and nine touchdowns with seven interceptions on 122-of-204 passing. He has also been sacked 32 times through the team’s first nine games for a loss of 182 yards.
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Wake Forest has two running backs that carry a bulk of the load: Demond Claiborne and Justice Ellison. Claiborne has 129 carries for 574 yards with five touchdowns this season, while Ellison has added 93 attempts for 447 yards. Running back Tate Carney leads Wake Forest with three rushing touchdowns on 32 carries for 168 yards.
Griffis can run as well. He has 101 attempts for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
While Griffis has thrown for 10 touchdowns, Wake Forest has five different receivers that have caught a score. Jahmal Banks has a team-high 47 receptions for 528 yards and three scores, while Taylor Morin has 31 receptions for 449 yards and two scores as Wake’s speed threat. Wesley Grimes and Cameron Hite have two receiving scores each, while Ke’Shawn Williams has a touchdown as well.
NC State is 68-42-6 all-time against Wake Forest and it won last season’s meeting 30-21. But Winston-Salem has been a place that the Wolfpack have struggled to win at. The red and white has lost in its last three trips to Wake Forest with its last win in 2015, a 35-17 victory. NC State lost 45-42 in 2021, 44-10 in 2019 and 30-24 in 2017 in its short road trips to Winston-Salem.
