Gio Lopez threw for two touchdowns and ran for three others, Wake Forest’s defense held Stanford to 197 total yards and the Demon Deacons thumped the Cardinal 57-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Deuce Lawrence, Steele Pizzella and Jamar Searcy also scored a rushing touchdown, while Jack Foley and Will Loerzel hauled in Lopez’s TD passes for the Demon Deacons (4-1, 2-1 in ACC), who topped 50 points in an ACC game for the first time since beating North Carolina 58-55 in 2021.
The 54-point margin of victory was the largest ever for Wake Forest in an ACC game, easily topping its 44-10 win over North Carolina State in 2019.
Emmet Kenney produced Stanford’s only scoring with a 43-yard field goal in the second quarter.
The Cardinal (2-3, 1-3) suffered their worst-ever defeat in ACC play, erasing the 45-6 drubbing they absorbed at the hands of Miami (Fla.) last month.
Actually, Stanford had the game’s first opportunity to score after Wake Forest’s Isaac Nelson mishandled Aidan Flintoft’s punt following the Cardinal’s first possession of the game. Four plays later, Kenney couldn’t connect on a 46-yard field goal.
It went downhill from there for Stanford, which watched Wake Forest score on its first two possessions. Lawrence found the end zone on a 12-yard run to open the scoring with 9:02 remaining in the first quarter, before Lopez scored the first of his touchdowns on a 5-yard run with 2:28 left in the period.
Lopez scored again on a 12-yard run and connected on a 4-yard TD pass to Foley before halftime, sending the hosts into the break with a 29-3 lead.
Lopez added a 4-yard touchdown run and a 1-yard TD pass to Loerzel in the third quarter, before Pizzella scored on a 10-yard run and Searcy on a 6-yard scamper to complete the rout.
Lopez finished 20-for-27 for 265 yards and added a game-high 88 yards on 12 carries. Carlos Hernandez was the game’s top receiver with seven catches for 87 yards.
Stanford’s Davis Warren went 19-for-30 for 136 yards with one interception in defeat. Nico Brown had a team-high 42 of the receiving yards on four catches, while Micah Ford was the Cardinal’s leading rusher with 45 yards on 16 carries.
Wake Forest outgained the visitors 519-197.
