College Football
Saturday, Oct. 31, 3:45 PM ET has the feel of a sneaky ACC window game that could get sharp in a hurry. No. 14 Wake Forest walks in with the ranking, the home crowd, and a passing attack that has already stacked numbers through the 2026 season. Virginia arrives with a quarterback producing touchdowns at a strong clip of his own. This one starts with the ball in the air.
Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez has been productive and aggressive all season: 1,680 passing yards and 13 touchdowns entering kickoff. His top target, Carlos Hernandez, has become a central piece of the offense with 720 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Those are the kind of numbers that tilt a field fast, especially at home. Virginia counters with Beau Pribula, who has thrown for 1,074 yards and 13 touchdowns himself. Different yardage totals, same touchdown production. That keeps the Cavaliers within striking distance if the passing game catches rhythm early.
The ground game numbers tell a different story. Virginia leans on Jekail Middlebrook, who leads the team with 337 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Wake Forest has Deuce Lawrence at 281 rushing yards and three scores. Neither side comes into this matchup with a massive rushing total attached to one player, which puts even more attention on quarterback timing, third-down execution, and explosive plays outside the numbers. When two teams feature touchdown-producing quarterbacks, every possession starts to feel expensive.
DraftKings lists Wake Forest as a 12.5-point favorite at home, with the total sitting at 48.5. The moneyline reads Wake Forest -520 and Virginia +390. The market clearly respects the ranked team playing in its own building, especially with Wake Forest carrying the more explosive passing production entering the weekend.
Virginia’s path gets interesting if Pribula can keep pace in the touchdown column and avoid long stretches where Wake Forest controls tempo through the air. Kameron Courtney leads the Cavaliers with 204 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and Virginia needs steady production from that connection to avoid falling into a chase script too early. Against a ranked opponent, empty drives add up quickly.
Wake Forest has the cleaner statistical profile coming into kickoff, and the national ranking adds weight to every result this time of year. The combination of Lopez distributing the ball and Hernandez stretching defenses has been the headline. Now the question becomes whether Virginia can turn this into a four-quarter game instead of allowing the favorite to settle in comfortably by halftime. Late October football has a habit of getting weird once momentum swings start flying around.
Looking ahead, this is the kind of matchup that can sharpen a ranked team’s reputation or create noise around an underdog quarterback putting together a statement afternoon. Either way, the 3:45 PM ET slot is carrying real intrigue. Two quarterbacks with 13 touchdown passes. A ranked home team. A double-digit spread. Plenty of ingredients for a game that stays on the second screen and suddenly becomes the main event.