- The Miami Hurricanes sit at -20.5 with a 55-point total for Friday night’s conference matchup against Wake Forest.
- Miami’s defense has allowed just 13 points through two games, while Wake Forest’s has given up 52.
- Wake Forest quarterback Gio Lopez won ACC Quarterback of the Week after a double-overtime win over Purdue.
- Miami climbed to No. 5 in the AP poll after outscoring Stanford and Florida A&M by a combined 109 points.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Both teams have scored at least 38 points in every game this season, which makes the 55-point total, more than the three touchdowns the fifth-ranked Hurricanes are laying, the number worth studying on Friday night.
The Total, Not The Spread, Is The Number
A total in the mid-50s prices this as a game Miami controls, not a shootout between two offenses that have each cleared 38 points in every outing this season. Miami has scored 122 combined against Stanford and Florida A&M, and Wake Forest has scored 76 against Akron and Purdue. Add those paces together and the total should run well past 55.
It doesn’t, because the Hurricanes’ defense has allowed just 13 points in two games while Wake Forest has given up 52. That gap between the raw scoring pace and the number is where the total angle sits.
The board has already priced in some of that lopsidedness on the spread, where BetOnline lists alternate numbers on Miami all the way up to -22.
| Line | Bovada Odds | BetOnline Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Miami -20.5 / Wake Forest +20.5 | -110 / -110 | -108 / -112 |
| Miami -21 | — | -103 |
| Miami -21.5 | — | -108 |
| Miami -22 | — | -110 |
| Total Over 55 / Under 55 | -115 / -105 | -113 / -107 |
| Total Over 56 | — | -110 |
| Total Over 56.5 | — | -110 |
| Total Over 57 | — | -105 |
BetOnline’s alternate total climbs to 57, two points above the main number, giving anyone banking on a Wake Forest shootout, the way it played out against Akron and Purdue, extra room to work with. On the moneyline, a $100 bet on Wake Forest to win outright wins $850 at Bovada and $945 at BetOnline, a gap from Miami’s -1800 and -1700 that shows how lopsided online sports betting markets consider this game before the total or the alternate spreads even get involved.
Wake Forest’s Path To A Cover
Wake Forest’s clearest path to covering 20.5 starts with Lopez, whose Purdue finish showed a quarterback comfortable playing from behind. The transfer, who started at South Alabama and North Carolina before landing in Winston-Salem, ran for a 3-yard touchdown and converted the two-point try in the second overtime to beat Purdue. He finished with 225 passing yards and 59 rushing yards in a performance that made him the ACC’s Quarterback of the Week.
The bigger problem for the Demon Deacons sits on the other side of the ball, where the 52 points they have allowed through two weeks now meet Darian Mensah, who has connected on 41 of 45 throws through Miami’s first two games for 653 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions. Keeping the margin inside three touchdowns means slowing an offense that hasn’t missed yet, not just outscoring what Akron and Purdue put up.
Miami’s Thin Resume Meets A Real Opponent
Miami’s resume so far is thin. The Hurricanes’ two wins are a 45-6 rout of Stanford and a 77-7 walkover against Florida A&M, an FCS program, and they lifted Miami from a preseason No. 7, its highest preseason ranking since 2004, to No. 5 in the current AP poll. Neither result tells the College Football Playoff committee much. Stanford has not had a winning season since joining the ACC in 2024, and Florida A&M was a scheduled blowout.
Wake Forest, fresh off beating a Big Ten opponent on the road, is the first team on Miami’s legal college football betting schedule that has already beaten somebody. A clean, controlling win tonight is the first data point in Miami’s resume that would mean anything past the box score. Miami hosts Central Michigan on Sept. 26 before an Oct. 3 trip to Clemson that will test that resume further.
