Home field plus a strong rush defense should give Wake Forest the advantage over Virginia Saturday afternoon. Lay the points on the Demon Deacons vs. the Cavaliers.

The ACC remains completely up for grabs as both the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions are still wide open. In the Atlantic, surprising Maryland has the lead but it is by only a half-game over Wake Forest and Florida St.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons -3½ vs. Virginia Cavaliers

The Demon Deacons lost to the Terrapins so they are at the wrong end of the tiebreaker meaning they need to finish with a better record to make a trip to the ACC Championship. Wake Forest put up a couple lame efforts on the road and an overtime home win over Duke should provide some momentum.

Virginia is also another surprise in the ACC at a half-game behind Georgia Tech in the Coastal, but they do own the tiebreaker having already defeated the Yellow Jackets. The Cavaliers thought they had their game won against Miami on Saturday but the Hurricanes scored a late touchdown in regulation and then were able to recover a fumble in overtime to secure the win. Virginia was outgained by 137 yards in that game and now heads out on the road for just their second road game in six weeks.

Wake Forest has a big advantage at the line of scrimmage and that is going to be the difference here. The Virginia rushing offense started extremely slow, picked up some steam and has started struggling again. The Cavaliers are 107th in the country in rushing offense, averaging just 103.2 ypg. Over their last three games, they are averaging only 85 ypg which happens to be just four yards less per game than they have averaged on the road this season.

The Demon Deacons rush defense has been strong this season, allowing 125.4 ypg which is good for 47th in the nation. They have allowed more than 145 yards only once this season and that came against Navy which is no surprise. Take that out and the average drops to 101.6 ypg. On the season, Wake Forest is allowing 3.6 ypc which is a truer indication of the success it has had. The total defense is ranked 34 in the nation so there is not a lot of room for Virginia to succeed.

Wake Forest has some success on offense running the ball but it has been far from what was expected. The Deacons have gone against some excellent rushing defenses this season and Virginia will not be included in that category. The Cavaliers are 76th in the nation in rushing defense and the average balloons on the road as they are allowing 207.3 ypg on 4.7 ypc in their three road games. Wake Forest is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games following an ATS loss so we can expect another big bounceback here.

Free Pick: Wake Forest -3½ (-106)

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