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Baylor Bears v. Wake Forest Demon Deacons Predictions & College Football Odds

Written by Jimmy Boyd

The 23rd nationally ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons of the ACC Atlantic Division face their first test of the season on the road in Waco, Texas against the Big 12’s Baylor Bears on Thursday August 28th. Fox Sports Network will be picking up the coverage live. JustBet oddsmakers have installed the Deacs as 12.5-point road favorites for the opener. The total has been set at 52.5. Jimmy Boyd’s Wake Forest/ Baylor college football preview provides insight into the matchup to help you with your early season college fooball handicapping.

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Wake Forest is more known for its talented basketball teams, but the school is in the midst of one of its most successful runs in the program’s history. Wake Forest is coming off a 9-4 2007 campaign which was capped off by a dominant performance over the Connecticut Huskies in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Deamon Deacs have gone 20-7 over the past two seasons under head coach Jim Grobe. The 20 wins is the highest total for any two consecutive season’s in the programs history. It doesn’t appear likely that we will see the same Wake Forest team that we saw in 2006 which made a trip to the Orange Bowl, but with a defense that returns nine starts, the Deacs could challenge for another 10-win season. The past two seasons have also marked the first time in school history that Wake Forest had made consecutive bowl appearances. Guess how long it’s been since Wake has had three consecutive winning seasons. The Deacs haven’t pulled off that feat since 1950-52 when they went 17-9-3. Not surprisingly, odds makers have put them in double-digit road chalk territory against a Baylor team which went winless in Big 12 play last season.

Important Trends to consider:

The Demon Deacons are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
The Demon Deacons are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.
The Under is 15-4-1 in the Demon Deacons last 20 non-conference games.
The Over is 5-1 in the Demon Deacons last 6 road games.

Baylor started the 2007 season 3-1, running up the score on Rice, Texas State, and Buffalo, but they went winless once Big 12 play hit. Baylor is 4-0 all-time against the Demon Deacons, but these teams have not played since 1961. New head coach Art Briles has already brought a lot of excitement to this program as he has promised to make Baylor the same balanced offensive threat that his Houston teams were. He knows his biggest challenge is to improve the defense as the offense has some talent. Several big statistics loom large over this team, like not producing a winning season since 1995 and not playing in a bowl game since 1994. Both will be tough monkey’s for Briles to get off the program’s back playing in the tough Big 12 South, but I do expect Briles to have this team challenging more often in Big 12 play in year one.

Important Trends to consider:

Plays on home underdogs of 10.5 to 21 points with an experienced QB returning as starter are 75-36 the last 5 seasons.
Wake Forest is 2-10 ATS as a favorite of 10.5 to 21 points since 1992.
Jim Grobe is 10-19 ATS as a favorite as the coach of Wake Forest.
The Under is 5-2 in the Bears last 7 home games.

Updated college football odds:

Wake Forest -12
Baylor +12
Total 50.5

Predicted Score: Wake Forest 31, Baylor 19

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