The ACC will meet the Mountain West during the first week of the college football season when the Wake Forest Demon Deacons play host to the Utah State Aggies. The action gets started at 8:00 EST on Friday, August 30, at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Fans can find the game on the new ACC Network.
Oddsmakers see this as a close game with Wake Forest favored by 3.5 points at home. The over/under for the game is set at 63.5 points. Click here to check out all of this week’s college football betting odds.
Wake Forest has enjoyed a nice run of success under Dave Clawson, who has built a stable program. After a pair of 3-9 seasons at the start of Clawson’s tenure, the Demon Deacons have gone bowling in three straight seasons. More importantly, they’ve won all three bowl games, securing a winning record each year.
That being said, the 2018 season had it’s fair share of turmoil. Clawson fired his defensive coordinator four games into the season and the Demon Deacons had to fight and scratch late in the year to reach a bowl game. Moreover, the ACC Atlantic remains one of the most difficult divisions in college football. The Demon Deacons can’t afford to lose any of their non-conference games if they want to get to their fourth straight bowl game.
Meanwhile, Utah State underwent an interesting coaching change during the offseason. Matt Wells left for Texas Tech after leading the Aggies to a 10-2 season that turned into an 11-2 season following a bowl win. To replace him, the Aggies brought back Gary Andersen, who was the head coach at Utah State from 2009 to 2012.
Andersen guided Utah State to an 11-2 season and a WAC title in 2012 before taking off for Wisconsin and eventually moving to Oregon State. However, his tenure at Oregon State was a disaster and he was eventually fired midway through the 2017 season. Anderson is now back at Utah State, replacing Wells, the same coach who replaced him when he left after the 2012 season.
As for the schools themselves, this will be the third-ever meeting between Utah State and Wake Forest. Wells and the Aggies got the better of Clawson and Wake in 2014. However, the Demon Deacons returned the favor in 2017, winning 46-10. The home team won both games.
An ACC team like Wake Forest only being favored by 3.5 points at home against a mid-major team, albeit a good one, says a lot. Both teams have discernible weaknesses coming into the season. But Utah State has the better quarterback and the better defense, and that’s enough for me to lean toward the Aggies, especially as the underdog.
Utah State has one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country in Bryce Love. He threw for over 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns last year while throwing just six interceptions. It’s fair to question the competition he faced a little. But he was 29 of 44 for 319 yards in last year’s season opener against a stout Michigan State defense. Love is the real deal and will give Utah State a chance to win this game.
The problem the Aggies have is that Love is just one of two returning starters on the offense. There will be a lot of new faces surrounding Love, especially on the offensive line, which is USU’s biggest concern. However, running back Gerold Bright rushed for nearly 900 yards and averaged over six yards per carry last year. The Aggies also have some young but promising receivers, so all hope is not lost.
Perhaps more importantly, the Wake Forest defense is still in rough shape. Clawson firing his defensive coordinator in the middle of the season last year didn’t do much. The Demon Deacons were dreadful on defense all season. They’ve also lost key players on the defensive line and remain weak at the linebacker spot, at least on paper. That should mitigate some of Utah State’s concerns on offense and put Love in a position to make some plays with his arm.
As for the Wake Forest offense, Jamie Newman has been named the starting quarterback. He led the Demon Deacons to three wins in his four starts late last season and has better arm strength than Sam Hartman, who started the first nine games of 2018 as a true freshman. However, Wake’s problem is they lost their three interior linemen and top receiver Greg Dortch.
If the offensive line can fill the holes, Cade Carney is an excellent running back who can carry the offense at times. If not, there’s a lot of pressure on Newman, who doesn’t have many established receivers at his disposal. There’s also the matter of the Utah State defense. The Aggies led the country in takeaways last year and bring back seven starters, so they’re in good shape on that side of the ball.
Even with a small spread to cover at home, I don’t actually trust Wake Forest to win this game. The Demon Deacons started to slide last season, and I think that could continue into 2019. To be fair, Utah State is unlikely to repeat their 11-win season from 2018. But they still have Love at quarterback and a solid defense, which is why I like them to pull the upset over Wake Forest on the road.