Gio Lopez threw for three touchdowns and 350 yards in his Wake Forest debut as the Demon Deacons rolled to a 38-16 season-opening victory over Akron on Thursday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Lopez, who played for North Carolina last year, completed 21 of 32 passes. Two of the TD passes were 70-plus yards.
Carlos Hernandez collected 165 receiving yards and a touchdown on five receptions in helping launch Jake Dickert's second season as Wake Forest's coach. Ty Clark III rushed for 105 yards on seven carries and Deuce Lawrence added a 4-yard fourth-quarter touchdown.
Connor Calvert made three of four field-goal attempts for the Demon Deacons.
Akron was forced to start freshman Cibastian Broughton at quarterback after eligibility issues for North Texas transfer Reese Poffenbarger put his status in limbo. Broughton was 21-for-26 passing for 111 yards along with a team-best 82 rushing yards on 14 attempts. Backup Brayden Roggow completed all seven passes for 45 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Zips were limited to 305 yards of total offense, with over half of those coming on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Trailing 38-3, their first TD came on Roggow's 2-yard pass to Elijah Alexander with 7:06 remaining, and the second TD came on Roggow's 4-yard toss to Titus Myers with 29 seconds left.
In the first quarter, the Demon Deacons matched their scoring output from the entire 2025 opener vs. Kennesaw State, a 10-9 victory.
The first points came on Lopez's 27-yard pass play to Kam Shanks. The lead grew to 10-0 on Calvert's 25-yard field goal to cap a 14-play drive that chewed up more than six minutes.
Lopez threw to Antonio Meeks for a 72-yard catch-and-run score on the Demon Deacons' first possession of the second quarter.
Following an Akron fumble, Wake Forest stretched the margin on Calvert's 29-yard field goal. Then came Lopez's 78-yard connection with Hernandez followed by a two-point conversion to take a 28-0 lead with 4:57 left in the first half.
Akron's first points came on Matthew Schramm's 28-yard field goal to complete a 10-play drive late in the first half.
Calvert missed on a 38-yarder in the waning seconds of the half. He opened the second-half scoring with a 26-yard field goal.
--Field Level Media