Miami Keeps Its Perfect Start with a 33-20 Win at Wake Forest
Wake Forest ran the ball 16 times for 22 yards. When your offense is a Gio Lopez arm and not much else, you can throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns and still lose by 13, which is what happened here. Miami won 33-20 and is 3-0.
Miami never trailed. Miami scored first, Wake Forest tied it at 7-7 late in the first quarter on a 10-yard pass from Lopez to Kamrean Johnson, and that was the last time the scoreboard was level. Miami ran off 17 straight points before halftime: a 21-yard touchdown pass to Elija Lofton, a 1-yard run from Mark Fletcher Jr., and a 27-yard Jake Weinberg field goal as the half ended, for 24-7. Malachi Toney's 2-yard touchdown catch at 8:56 of the third made it 31-7.
The second half belonged to Wake Forest's passing game, a little too late. Jack Foley caught a 23-yarder (and the two-point try failed) and Carlos Hernandez a 17-yarder with 14:56 left, cutting it to 31-20. A safety at 13:11 closed the scoring at 33-20. Lopez was 29 of 46 for 312 with one interception, and Wake Forest finished with 334 total yards to Miami's 380.
Darian Mensah was nearly perfect on the other side, 30 of 34 for 220 yards and three touchdowns, and Miami's defense recorded three sacks to Wake Forest's one. Miami threw no interceptions and lost no fumbles.
For fantasy, the top scorer came from the losing team. Lopez led all players with 29.7, ahead of Toney (29.4) and Mensah (27.3). Toney's 12 catches for 114 yards would have been the story in most games.