Thursday, September 11
Winston-Salem, N.C.
7:30 p.m.
Wake Forest University
24
vs
34
NC State
Demon Deacons Fall to NC State
9/12/2025 12:02:00 AM | Football
The Demon Deacons dropped their first contest of the year on Thursday night in Winston-Salem.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest football team (2-1, 0-1 ACC) dropped a hard-fought 34-24 contest to NC State (3-0, 0-1 ACC) on Thursday evening inside Allegacy Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Chris Barnes continued his strong start to the year, totaling 177 all-purpose yards, including an electric 98-yard kickoff return on the opening kickoff of the game, and a 70-yard reception to set up an early Wake Forest touchdown.
Senior safety Nick Andersen totaled double-digit tackles for the seventh time in his career, and the third time in the last seven contests dating back to last season, leading the Demon Deacons with 11 stops.
The Demon Deacons will have their first bye weekend of the season next weekend before returning to Allegacy Federal Credit Union on Saturday, Sept. 27, against Georgia Tech. The game against the Yellow Jackets will serve as Wake Forest's annual Family Weekend game, as well as the We Are Wake Green Game in support of Mental Health Awareness. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
FROM COACH DICKERT
"This is obviously a disappointing result. I have to give a lot of credit to NC State, but that's a bad half of football. I think we did a good job in the first half keeping them off balanced, we just weren't able to establish anything offensively in the second half. If you give up 200 yards rushing, you're going to have some problems. I'm really proud of our team. We're a better football team today than we were at this time after game one, there's no doubt about it. We're going to be able to compete with every team in this league. I'm proud of this team. There's going to be a lot of learns from this tape, but we have to be mature enough to come back on Sunday after a couple of days off and watch ourselves doing bad things that ended up costing us the game. The same goes for the coaches, we need to make adjustments. There's a bunch of things that we can do better as a program, starting with me. I'm not too energized about losses. I'm not a big moral victory guy, but we are a better football team today than we were three weeks ago and that's a big deal. We're going to continue to fight, I know the locker room is disappointed. Congratulations to NC State and we're going to keep moving forward."
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons will have their first bye weekend of the season next weekend before returning to Allegacy Federal Credit Union on Saturday, Sept. 27, against Georgia Tech. The game against the Yellow Jackets will serve as Wake Forest's annual Family Weekend game, as well as the We Are Wake Green Game in support of Mental Health Awareness. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Redshirt freshman Chris Barnes continued his strong start to the year, totaling 177 all-purpose yards, including an electric 98-yard kickoff return on the opening kickoff of the game, and a 70-yard reception to set up an early Wake Forest touchdown.
Senior safety Nick Andersen totaled double-digit tackles for the seventh time in his career, and the third time in the last seven contests dating back to last season, leading the Demon Deacons with 11 stops.
The Demon Deacons will have their first bye weekend of the season next weekend before returning to Allegacy Federal Credit Union on Saturday, Sept. 27, against Georgia Tech. The game against the Yellow Jackets will serve as Wake Forest's annual Family Weekend game, as well as the We Are Wake Green Game in support of Mental Health Awareness. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Demon Deacons got on the board immediately as Barnes took the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
- This marked the first kickoff return for a touchdown since Claiborne returned a kick 100-yards last season against Miami.
- The Deacs extended their lead on their first offensive possession of the game, which was capped off by a one-yard rushing touchdown by Claiborne.
- Ashford threw for 82 yards while connecting on all three of his passing attempts on the drive, including a 70-yard pass to Barnes.
- The Wolfpack responded with a touchdown with 2:35 left in the first quarter to make it 14-7.
- NC State tied the game with a pick-six.
- Ashford kept it himself from one yard out as Wake Forest reclaimed the lead, 21-14.
- Ashford connected with redshirt senior Eni Falayi on a 42-yard reception to put the Deacs deep in Wolfpack territory.
- Junior wide receiver Carlos Hernandez came up with two receptions for 13 yards, with both catches coming on key third down conversions.
- The Demon Deacons tacked on a 28-yard field goal from redshirt freshman Connor Calvert to extend their lead, 24-14.
- The Deacs connected on back-to-back big plays to set up the field goal, with Micah Mays Jr. and Sterling Berkhalter both hauling in 26-yard receptions.
- NC State answered with a field goal to make it 24-17 heading into halftime.
- Redshirt senior Ashaad Williams recorded a key pass breakup in the end zone on the third down prior to the field goal attempt.
- The Wolfpack tied the game with 6:22 left in the third quarter.
- Redshirt junior Mateen Ibirogba and junior Braylon Johnson combined on a sack on third down to halt a NC State drive late in the third quarter.
- The Wolfpack took a 31-24 lead with 12:37 left in the fourth quarter.
- NC State added a field goal with 6:19 left to extend their lead to 34-24.
- Wake Forest fell, 34-24.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- Redshirt freshman Chris Barnes returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown for the Deacs first kickoff return touchdown since teammate Demond Claiborne housed a 100-yard return against Miami in 2024.
- This marked the 2nd time in his first three games as a Demon Deacon that he has gone for over 100 all-purpose yards and has now done so in back-to-back game games:
- Sept. 6, 2025 vs. Western Carolina - 178 (3 RUSH, 149 RCV, 26 KR)
- Sept. 11, 2025 vs. NC State - 177 APR (3 RUSH, 76 RCV, 98 KR)
- Running back Demond Claiborne registered his fourth rushing touchdown of the year on Thursday evening, scoring from one yard out.
- With three touchdown runs in week two and an additional TD in week three, Claiborne sits one rushing touchdown away from tying Cade Carney for the most in the CFP era.
| Rank | Name | Career Rushing Touchdowns | Games Played |
| 1. | Cade Carney (2016-19) | 21 | 42 |
| T2. | Demond Claiborne (2022-Pres.) | 20 | 35 |
| 3. | John Wolford (2015-17) | 19 | 35 |
| T4. | Sam Hartman (2019-22) | 17 | 48 |
| T4. | Kenneth Walker III (2019-20) | 17 | 20 |
| T6. | Matt Colburn II (2015-18) | 15 | 47 |
| T6. | Justice Ellison (2020-23) | 15 | 40 |
| 8. | Christian Beal-Smith (2019-21) | 14 | 30 |
| T9. | Kendall Hinton (2015-19) | 12 | 34 |
| T9. | Christian Turner (2021-22) | 12 | 26 |
FROM COACH DICKERT
"This is obviously a disappointing result. I have to give a lot of credit to NC State, but that's a bad half of football. I think we did a good job in the first half keeping them off balanced, we just weren't able to establish anything offensively in the second half. If you give up 200 yards rushing, you're going to have some problems. I'm really proud of our team. We're a better football team today than we were at this time after game one, there's no doubt about it. We're going to be able to compete with every team in this league. I'm proud of this team. There's going to be a lot of learns from this tape, but we have to be mature enough to come back on Sunday after a couple of days off and watch ourselves doing bad things that ended up costing us the game. The same goes for the coaches, we need to make adjustments. There's a bunch of things that we can do better as a program, starting with me. I'm not too energized about losses. I'm not a big moral victory guy, but we are a better football team today than we were three weeks ago and that's a big deal. We're going to continue to fight, I know the locker room is disappointed. Congratulations to NC State and we're going to keep moving forward."
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons will have their first bye weekend of the season next weekend before returning to Allegacy Federal Credit Union on Saturday, Sept. 27, against Georgia Tech. The game against the Yellow Jackets will serve as Wake Forest's annual Family Weekend game, as well as the We Are Wake Green Game in support of Mental Health Awareness. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Players Mentioned
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
K
/ Football
RB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DL
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DB
/ FootballWake Forest Football vs SMU | Cinematic Recap
Wednesday, October 29
Wake Forest Head Football Coach Jake Dickert Weekly Press Conference (10/27/2025)
Monday, October 27
Wake Forest Defensive Back Davaughn Patterson Postgame vs. SMU (Oct. 25, 2025)
Saturday, October 25
Wake Forest Wide Receiver Chris Barnes Postgame Press Conference vs. SMU (Oct. 25, 2025)
Saturday, October 25