Demon Deacons

Winston-Salem is not a football town by size, and Wake Forest is not a football school by enrolment — among the Power Four conferences, the university remains the smallest. The program dates to 1888 and has played in the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1953, after years in the Southern Conference.

The team has won the ACC Championship twice, in 1970 and again in 2006. The second of those came under coach Jim Grobe, who took an 11-2 team to an Orange Bowl berth in 2006. An ACC Atlantic Division title followed in 2021, when Wake Forest finished 11-3.

Further back, Peahead Walker built the winningest record in school history and took the Demon Deacons to the first Gator Bowl in 1946. Of the players who came through Winston-Salem, Brian Piccolo is the name most often carried beyond football itself.

Rivalries with Duke, North Carolina and NC State give the season its fixed points; the meeting with NC State is the longest unbroken series between two ACC schools.