On Saturday at 12:30 PM PT on ACC Network, Stanford football will take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons for their homecoming game on The Farm. Stanford comes in at 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the ACC while Wake Forest comes in at 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the ACC.

Last time out: Stanford fell to No. 21 SMU last week by a final score of 40-10. After the team got down 21-0, Elijah Brown came in at quarterback for Stanford.

RECAP: Slow start dooms Stanford against No. 21 SMU

On Wake Forest: Despite not having a great season, the Demon Deacons do have a 34-30 win at NC State while also having a narrow 31-30 loss at home to Virginia. They’ve been competitive in some games though they’ve been blown out in others like their 40-6 loss at home to now No. 18 Ole Miss. So it’s sort of hit and miss with them though generally speaking they are viewed as a weak team.

The Demon Deacons are led by redshirt senior quarterback Hank Bachmeier, older brother of Stanford sophomore wide receiver Tiger Bachmeier. Bachmeier has thrown for 1,713 yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions on a 62.2% completion percentage. With his legs, Bachmeier has rushed for 116 yards for a 2.7 yards per carry average, which is modest, but still somewhat mobile. He’s had a strong season and done a great job of helping the Demon Deacons achieve the success that they have had.

Bachmeier’s favorite target is redshirt senior wide receiver Taylor Morin, who has a team high 35 receptions for 458 yards. Morin is yet to find the end zone this season. As far as who leads the team in receiving touchdowns, that would be redshirt junior wide receiver Horatio Fields, who has a team high three receiving touchdowns to go along with 26 receptions and 311 receiving yards.

The top running back for the Demon Deacons is junior Desmond Claiborne, who has rushed for 584 yards and eight touchdowns for an average of 4.7 yards per carry. Redshirt sophomore Tate Carney is the number two running back on the team, rushing for 217 yards and four touchdowns for an average of 4.3 yards per carry.

On defense, junior defensive back Nick Andersen leads the team with 76 total tackles (38 solo). He’s by far and away the best tackler on the team as the number two tackler on the team is redshirt junior linebacker Dylan Hazen with 49 total tackles (17 solo). Redshirt senior defensive lineman Kevin Pointer leads the way in tackles for loss and sacks with 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. As for ball hawks, multiple guys have one interception, so there’s no real leader there, but the Demon Deacons do have five interceptions as a team, so they’ve done a decent job of picking teams off.

To touch quickly on the kicking game, Matthew Dennis has gone 12-14 on his field goals and 20-20 on his extra points. Very solid numbers. However, he is 2-4 from 40+ yards out, so if you give him a bit of distance he is shaky.

Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is establish the run. If they can run the ball well with Micah Ford and Chris Davis Jr., they’ll be in a good spot to win this game. It would be huge if Cole Tabb could get in on the action and make his season debut. He was practicing this week and is active, so that’s something to watch for.

Secondly, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. This has been a problem for them all season long. When they take good care of the ball, they can pick up first downs, get into the red zone, and score points. But of course, if they turn it over, they can’t do any of those things. If Stanford is able to move the ball well and keep possession of it, that will go a long ways towards winning this game.

Finally, Stanford needs to win the special teams game. This is a game that could go down to the wire, which means a field goal and field position could decide it. If Stanford does a better job making their kicks and winning the field position battle, they’ll have an edge in this game. If not, Wake Forest likely wins.

Prediction: It’s homecoming and Wake Forest is not very good. I’m going to pick Stanford to win, but narrowly: 31-27. This should be a tight game that comes down to the final plays, but I got the Cardinal hanging on.

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