Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs Duke Blue Devils Prediction, Odds and Picks

Vote on who will cover the spread!

Point Spread Pick

We have Thursday night ACC action this week as the Duke Blue Devils play host to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Wake Forest comes into this game 1-4 in league play and a loser of 4 of its last 5 games in general. It would be a clean 5 of 5 if Pittsburgh was competent enough to run off 50 seconds from the clock at the end of the game, but college teams being what they often are, they couldn’t — and Wake Forest stole that one. In short, Wake Forest is not very dangerous. Duke is coming into this one riding 2 straight lopsided losses. The Blue Devils were blanked last week at Louisville, 23-0, and they were run over by the Seminoles the week before (no shame in that, I suppose). Duke is struggling and looks to bounce back.

So how do we play a game between 2 struggling teams? This line opened at -6 or -7 depending on the book, and it was pushed up to -12.5 almost immediately. Duke has an excuse for its struggles — quarterback Riley Leonard has been hobbled by an ankle injury, and as a quarterback who leans on his mobility, he has struggled. He should be close to full strength by now though. Wake, on the other hand, doesn’t have an obvious problem that will just go away like that. Furthermore, Duke’s defense is ranked 23rd in the nation, and that is no mirage ranking with Norte Dame, Florida State and Louisville already baked in. What should happen here is that Duke’s defense controls this game, Wake Forest scores very little and an increasingly healthy Leonard gets the Duke offense back on track. I feel much more confident in that narrative than that Wake will somehow become something it hasn’t been all season and on the road in a mid-week game no less. I’ll follow the line movement on this one.

Duke -12.5 available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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A teacher and minister by training, a fantasy sports enthusiast and sports bettor by hobby. I live in the Great Smoky Mountains, and I especially love NCAAF, NFL, NCAAB and MLB. For Chad Hartsock media enquiries, please email [email protected].