{"id":81878,"date":"2025-10-31T14:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=81878"},"modified":"2025-10-31T10:59:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:59:57","slug":"81878-wake-forest-and-florida-state-with-different-directions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/31\/81878-wake-forest-and-florida-state-with-different-directions\/","title":{"rendered":"Wake Forest and Florida State With Different Directions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wake Forest has a chance to prove new head coach Jake Dickert right. The Demon Deacons travel to Tallahassee this weekend to take on a beleaguered Florida State team. At ACC Kickoff in late July, most of the media had Wake Forest pegged for last or at least close to last place in the conference. A win will give Wake its sixth win of the year, assuring the Deacs of a bowl game, something Dickert knew all along his team could achieve.<\/p>\n

The Matchup<\/h3>\n

Wake is 5-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play after last week\u2019s last-second win over SMU<\/a>. Florida State is 3-4 overall, but 0-4 in ACC play, and coming off a bye week. The last two months have shown that the Seminoles\u2019 season-opening win over Alabama was a mirage. All of Tallahassee is now on coach watch with the status of Mike Norvell in limbo.<\/p>\n

Dickert\u2019s high-energy style has permeated the program to this point. That has led to players believing that they belong in any postseason conversation. Last Word\u2019s latest post-season projections<\/a> have Wake in the Fenway Bowl two days after Christmas. Of course, with five games left to play, the more wins, the better the bowl game.<\/p>\n

Buying In<\/h3>\n

While there are certainly still plenty of things that need to be fixed, Dickert said the belief the team has in itself continues to grow. \u201cI really believe that our belief in what we\u2019re doing in all three phases is truly unshakeable,\u201d he said at his weekly press conference. He called Wake\u2019s defensive performance against SMU, \u201cThe most unselfish defensive performance I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d He pointed out that even as the offense committed five turnovers, none of them led directly to SMU points because the defense stepped up.<\/p>\n

In terms of growth, Dickert goes back to the defense. He said the loss to NC State in the conference opener was a determining factor in what happened going forward. After that game, linebacker Dylan Hazen said players needed to make sure they were not trying to do so much above and beyond their assignments. \u201cWe had to fail at NC State to be this successful against SMU,\u201d Dickert said. He said that the game showed that defensive players were trying to do too much and do each other\u2019s jobs. \u201cThey learned from that and they grew from that,\u201d he said this week. He said the players failed in that game, but did not point fingers, and weeks later, the result was the defense that stifled SMU\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

Mike Norvell’s Take<\/h3>\n

Norvell is also impressed with the development of Wake\u2019s defense. \u201cYou see a defense that\u2019s playing at a really high level,\u201d he said earlier this week. \u201cI thought they did an outstanding job this past weekend against SMU.\u201d He added, \u201cThey\u2019re going to play sideline to sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norvell also acknowledged that Wake\u2019s record could be\/should be one game better than it is. \u201cObviously, you see that they found a way in a lot of contests. In all reality, they got screwed out of a Georgia Tech win at the end of it. We\u2019re going to have to play our best game as we go into this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the proof is in the results. A Wake Forest defense that has been ranked 90th<\/sup> or lower much of the last two seasons is currently 23rd<\/sup> in the country in total defense.<\/p>\n

The Work<\/h3>\n

Of course, there is still so much work ahead. Wake has spent significant time this week on ball security. Wake had five turnovers last Saturday, leading Dickert to say after the game<\/a> that the team \u201cDisrespected the football.\u201d He said it wasn\u2019t just the fumbles, but the habits that could have created more turnovers, like loose ballhandling. \u201cThere are so many little details in this game in our preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while the penalties have fallen off, Wake Forest still committed six of them against SMU. Well, five if you ask Dickert. The illegal formation flag on the fake punt had Dickert incensed on the sidelines, and not much afterward. He sent the tape of the formation and the play to the ACC offices, saying he is owed an explanation and that the call on the field was wrong.<\/p>\n

The Quarterbacks<\/h3>\n

Quarterback Robby Ashford has been listed as probable for Saturday night\u2019s game. That does not mean he will go back to being the starter. He played sparingly last week, still recovering from injuries. He was four of 10 passing for 33 yards and a touchdown. Deshawn Purdie was 14 of 26 for 183 yards. Dickert made it clear that there is a quarterback competition. Ashford has been hampered over the last two weeks of practice because of injuries. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to be ultra-competitive this week,\u201d he said while complimenting their mindset of getting there. \u201cHe\u2019s got to continue to get healthy as we work through this final stretch of games,\u201d Dickert said of Ashford, adding, \u201cWe will always do what is best for the team,\u201d with regard to making the quarterback decisions.<\/p>\n

The quarterback issue on the side is resolved, but not well. Tommy Castellanos has been the starter all season. But it has been a roller coaster. He was a 50% passer (14 of 28) for 242 yards and no touchdowns in the loss to Stanford two weeks ago. But the week prior, he was 16 of 23 (69%) for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He has nine passing touchdowns on the season to go with five interceptions. Castellanos is also the second leading rusher on the team with 319 yards.<\/p>\n

While the momentum of the two teams is going in opposite directions, Dickert cautions not to get too caught up in it. \u201cIf you don\u2019t humble yourself, this game will humble you really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to watch Wake Forest at Florida State<\/h3>\n

Date<\/strong>: Saturday, Nov. 1;\u00a0Time<\/strong>: 7:30 pm Eastern
\nLocation<\/strong>: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee
\nTV:<\/strong> ACC Network<\/p>\n

Main Image: Wake Forest athletics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wake Forest has a chance to prove new head coach Jake Dickert right. The Demon Deacons travel to Tallahassee this weekend to take on a beleaguered Florida State team. At ACC Kickoff in late July, most of the media had Wake Forest pegged for last or at least close to last place in the conference. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":81882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,35636,17,35643],"tags":[34945,33867,9582,2100,9186,35465],"class_list":["post-81878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-featured","category-florida-state-seminoles","category-news","category-wake-forest-demon-deacons","tag-deshawn-purdie","tag-dylan-hazen","tag-jake-dickert","tag-mike-norvell","tag-robby-ashford","tag-tommy-castellanos"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81878"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81884,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81878\/revisions\/81884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}