Stanford football takes on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in their homecoming game at The Farm on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT on ACC Network. Stanford is 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the ACC, while Wake Forest is 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC.

Last time: Stanford fell to No. 21 SMU last week with a final score of 40-10. After the team was defeated 0:21, Elijah Brown came as a quarterback for Stanford.

SUMMARY: Slow start dooms Stanford against No. 21 SMU

On Wake Forest: Although the Demon Deacons didn’t have a great season, they earned a 34-30 win at NC State while also suffering a narrow 31-30 home loss to Virginia. In some games they were competitive, but in others they lost, such as the 40-6 home loss to the now weak No. 18 Ole Miss team.

The Demon Deacons are led by redshirt senior quarterback Hank Bachmeierolder brother of the Stanford sophomore wide receiver Tiger Bachmeier. Bachmeier has thrown for 1,713 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions with a 62.2% completion rate. Using his legs, Bachmeier has rushed for 116 yards, averaging 2.7 yards per carry, which is modest but still somewhat mobile. He had a strong season and did a great job helping the Demon Deacons to their success.

Bachmeier’s favorite target is the redshirt senior wide receiver Taylor Morinwho has a team total of 35 receptions for 458 yards. Morin has yet to find the end zone this season. Who leads the team in receiving touchdowns is the redshirt junior wide receiver Horatio Fieldswho has a team total of three receiving touchdowns as well as 26 receptions and 311 receiving yards.

The Demon Deacons’ top running back is a junior Desmond Claibornewho passed for 584 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Redshirt sophomore Tate Carney is the number two running back on the team, rushing for 217 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

On defense, junior defensive back Nick Andersen leads the team with 76 total tackles (38 solo). He is by far the best tackler on the team, as the number two tackler on the team is the redshirt junior linebacker Dylan Hazen with a total of 49 tackles (17 solo). Redshirt senior defensive lineman Kevin Pointer is the leader in tackles for loss and sacks with 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. The Ball Hawks have several guys with one interception, so there’s no real leader there, but the Demon Deacons have five interceptions as a team, so they did a good job picking teams.

To briefly talk about the kicking game, Matthew Dennis went 12-14 on his field goals and 20-20 on his extra points. Very solid numbers. However, he’s 2-4 from more than 40 yards away, so if you give him some distance, he’s unsafe.

Key to the game: For Stanford, the first thing is to establish the run. If they can run the ball well Micah Ford And Chris Davis Jr.they will be in a good position to win this game. It would be huge if Cole Tabb could get into the action and make his season debut. He’s been practicing and being active this week, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

Second, Stanford has to take care of the ball. This has been a problem for them all season. If they take good care of the ball, they can get first downs, get into the red zone and score points. But of course if they turn it around, they can’t do any of that. If Stanford is able to move the ball well and maintain possession, that will go a long way in winning this game.

Finally, Stanford has to win the special teams game. This is a game that could go down to the wire, meaning a field goal and field position could decide it. If Stanford can do a better job executing their shots and winning the field position battle, they will have an advantage in this game. If not, Wake Forest probably wins.

Forecast: It’s homecoming and Wake Forest isn’t very good. I’ll pick Stanford to win, but narrowly: 31-27. It’s going to be a close game with the last few plays counting, but I held on for the Cardinal.

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