Miami's big spread against Wake Forest leaves little room for a letdown on the road

The respect that the oddsmakers have for the Miami Hurricanes is pretty obvious with a 20.5-point spread against Wake Forest for Week 3.

Miami will have an extra day after being shorted a day last week, so the Hurricanes will be rested, but they are quite banged up in the secondary with both Week 1 starting cornerbacks — OJ Frederique and Xavier Lucas -- out for an extended period of time.

Those injuries mean very little to Vegas and its belief that the Hurricanes are going to roll the Demon Deacons on the road. Wake Forest is trying to make the atmosphere as challenging as possible, calling for a "blackout."

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Miami's defense will have to step up this week against Wake Forest

Wake Forest is 2-0 after wins against Akron and Purdue. Demon Deacons quarterback Gio Lopez wasn't very good for North Carolina last season, but that might've been more on the dysfunction that was happening in Chapel Hill. Lopez has looked like a different guy since arriving at Wake Forest, throwing for 575 yards and four touchdowns in two games. He also leads the Demon Deacons with two rushing scores.

The Hurricanes' focus in the secondary is going to be limiting opportunities for veteran wide receiver Carlos Hernandez. The senior already has 11 catches for 263 yards, averaging a very impressive 23 yards per catch. Wake Forest hasn't played Miami much — this will be just the third meeting between the teams since 2013. The last time the teams played in 2024, Hernandez was with Washington State, so the Hurricanes will be getting their first look at him.

Mario Cristobal and Corey Hetherman made some adjustments in the secondary to compensate for the injuries. That included Bryce Fitzgerald moving to cornerback against Florida A&M and true freshman JJ Dunnigan making his first career start at safety. Cristobal said to watch for even more combinations in the defensive backfield. 

"Bryce has shown the versatility since he has been here. I think JJ's play since he got here warrants him playing there…That's how we wanted to start the game. After that, I think if you watch the tape, you will see a couple of other combinations," he said in a postgame press conference.

Wake Forest has traditionally played Miami tough, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Jake Dickert's squad. The Demon Deacons managed nine wins last season, including upsets over SMU and a top-15 Virginia team on the road. One of the losses was to Duke, and Darian Mensah lit up the Deacons secondary for 268 passing yards and 3 total touchdowns. Cooper Barkate had eight catches for 83 yards in that 49-32 Blue Devils win.

While I wouldn't put Miami on upset alert or anything, it's fair to say that this game could be tougher than expected if the Hurricanes don't come to play.

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