Tulane at Wake Forest – Preview and Prediction
WAKE FOREST 17 TULANE (43)
Implied Projected Score: Wake Forest 30 Tulane 13
MEGALOCKS LINE – Wake Forest 17
The Game
It’s a Thursday night degenerate special as Wake Forest opens up at home against Tulane. We feel that both of these teams are going to be underrated against the number on many occasions in 2016. The Demon Deacons are likely to be the team to get off to a quicker start during the new campaign since Tulane is undergoing a significant change in offensive philosophy.
The Match-Up
Wake Forest offense vs Tulane defense
John Wolford was recently named the starting QB for this game, but do not be surprised if the more explosive athlete Kendall Hinton (7 rushing TD last season) gets some significant playing time. Wake QBs threw more INTs than TD passes last year so we expect a pretty conservative game plan. The OL has been pretty atrocious in recent seasons but promises to be better with 4/5 returning starters.
JUGGERNAUT ALERT – True freshman RB Cade Carney looked great in camp and gets the start at RB. Overall, the depth is very good at the position, but Carney could be the special talent that Wake needs to spice up the ground attack.
The Tulane defense stacks up pretty well against more traditional offenses and they will probably make Wake Forest work harder than they want to going up and down the field. 8 returning starters are back on defense including leading tackler LB Nico Marley. There is not too much of a passing attack to worry about.
Tulane offense vs Wake Forest defense
New HC Willie Fritz brings the explosive Georgia Southern running philosophy with him to Tulane, but even though Tulane has some talent at the RB spot, it may take some time before things start clicking on the ground. The big concern for the offense is zero returning starts at QB (!) let alone any experience running this style of offense.
Wake is down to six returning starters on defense after losing DL Zeek Rodney for the season. Overall, Wake did a pretty decent job on defense last year allowing only 24.6 points per game. Tulane will surprise them once or twice but they should be able to handle the attack.
Tasty Tidbits
The Green Wave is on an 0-6 ATS run vs ACC opponents…..Wake is 12-5-1 to the under in their last 18 home games – not to mention 36-15-1 to the under in their last 52 games overall….Wake Forest in a look-ahead spot with Duke on deck…..Nobody on earth is hoping for a repeat of the 3-0 Demon Deacon win over Boston College last year…..Fun stat to amuse your friends – Wake only scored more than 24 points once last season (FCS foe – Elon) AND they did not score more than 24 in any game in 2014….That makes HC Clawson 23/24 under the team total of 24.5….Just saying.
Summary
Wake -17 looks about right to us. The match-up and pace of the game likely favor the under but it is pretty low at 43 right now. The worry is the complete unknown of how sharp the Tulane ground attack may be, and shockingly, how much better the Wake offense might be in HC Clawson’s 3rd season.
Conclusion
No official play.
Lean: Under any total 42 or better if you absolutely need to do something with this game.