Wake Upsets Virginia Tech » Greenville Sports Media

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For the ninth time in the last 10 seasons, the Wake Forest football team (3-2, 1-2 ACC) won its first road game of the season, defeating Virginia Tech (2-4, 1-1 ACC), 30-23, on Saturday afternoon inside Lane Stadium. Additionally, the Demon Deacons now have a record of 8-2 in the last 10 games played against schools from the state of Virginia. This includes at least one win in five of the last six seasons, dating back to the 2020 season. The win also marks the first victory for the Demon Deacons inside Lane Stadium since the 1983 season.

Road. Warriors. 🎩 pic.twitter.com/DAIc1jtpix

— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) October 4, 2025

The Demon Deacons recorded nearly 350 yards of total offense, as senior running back Demond Claiborne had a touchdown score for the fourth-straight game while redshirt senior quarterback Robby Ashford completed 24 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. Seven different Demon Deacons recorded a catch, led by senior Sawyer Racnelli, who hauled in three passes for 88 yards.

The ball.
The ball.
The ball. pic.twitter.com/ueUHZeEDPR

— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) October 5, 2025

In addition, redshirt senior tight end Eni Falayi added five catches for 50 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown reception, his first as a Demon Deacon. Sophomore tailback Ty Clark added his first career touchdown as the Nashville native ran for 22 yards on four attempts. Defensively, Wake Forest was led by a standout effort from redshirt sophomore Davaughn Patterson, who notched eight tackles with three solo efforts and a tackle-for-loss. Senior defensive back Nick Andersen also added seven tackles with two solo efforts, half a tackle for loss, and the game sealing pass breakup on fourth down with less than two minutes to play.

Brought a win back to Winston ✅

Highlights 🎥 pic.twitter.com/fuO77LdjeS

— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) October 5, 2025

In total, the Demon Deacons defense limited the Hokies offense to 263 yards, including only 111 passing yards. The Deacs also came away with a takeaway in the first quarter, as junior Dallas Afalava recorded his first career interception, becoming the first Wake Forest defensive tackle to record an interception since Kevin Pointer did so against Virginia last season. The Deacs will continue their road trip swing next weekend when Wake Forest travels to Corvallis, Ore. to face Oregon State on Saturday, Oct. 11 for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on The CW. This will be the first ever game for the Demon Deacons in the state of Oregon.

Still vibin' pic.twitter.com/h4GB4Cpnza

— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) October 5, 2025

FROM COACH DICKERT
“What a hard-fought game. I give a lot of credit to Virginia Tech. They just kept swinging and punching. That locker room is ecstatic. I’m so proud of these guys. Last week, they took it from us. This week, we went out and we earned it. I saw it all week. That was a response. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy. I’m just so proud of our football team to come into this environment and show who we are. We had a lot of gutsy performances. We did whatever it took. It took all of us that made this trip. I’m so proud of this team. Defense played lights out and we made the big plays that we needed. They could have been saying, ‘Here we go again,’ but they didn’t. They are just grinded it out and found a way to win a big football game. It was also a heck of a game from Connor Calvert. He was the better kicker today. I couldn’t be prouder of our team.”