Two of the top quarterbacks in the country, both of whom transferred from one Atlantic Coast Conference school to another this offseason, square off Friday night when No. 5 Miami takes on host Wake Forest at Winston-Salem, N.C.
Darian Mensah, who went from Duke to Miami, has emerged as an early Heisman Trophy candidate as the country’s most accurate passer (91.1%) through two games while compiling the second-highest passer rating (271.67) behind only Georgia’s Gunner Stockton.
Meanwhile, Gio Lopez, who moved from North Carolina to Wake Forest, has shown marked improvement in two games. He ranks 15th nationally and fifth in the ACC in passing yards per game (287.5) while throwing four touchdown passes with no interceptions. He also has rushed for 97 yards and two scores.
“Needless to say, he’s playing at a really high level,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday of Lopez. “People who are saying he was banged up, he’s not. I mean, that guy just – he took over the game, very physical. I don’t think, besides the offscript plays where he takes off with the ball, the design quarterback runs are really physical runs. …He’s doing a lot of things that are physically demanding and there’s no hesitation, no flinching, in him.”
Mensah led Miami (2-0, 1-0 ACC) to a 45-6 rout on Sept. 4 at Stanford by throwing five touchdown passes. He followed that by throwing three more in a 77-7 thrashing of Florida A&M at home last Thursday.
When Lopez chose the Demon Deacons (2-0, 0-0), he joined a program that went 9-4 and won the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Jake Dickert’s first season as coach.
He has directed them to a second straight 2-0 start with a home win over Akron and a 38-36 double-overtime victory at Purdue. Trailing in the second overtime, Lopez completed a pass that converted a fourth-and-15 right at the sticks. Then he powered for a 3-yard touchdown run — to tie the game before his 2-point run was the game-winner.
“It was a fun win,” Dickert said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”
Lopez completed 16 of 27 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown and ran for 59 yards with two touchdowns against Purdue.
He will test Miami’s secondary, which took another hit last week with an injury to cornerback Xavier Lucas. The Hurricanes are without three regular cornerbacks with O.J. Frederique and Ja’Boree Antoine also sidelined for an extended amount of time. It likely means more playing time for Bryce Fitzgerald at corner with JJ Dunning getting more reps at safety, a week after both got starting assignments against Florida A&M.
“Obviously, we worked different combinations from the springtime throughout the summer and in fall camp, and feel good on the pieces that we’ve settled on to start the game, and how we move them around as the game goes on in our different packages,” Cristobal said.
Wake Forest opens ACC play as a 21-point underdog at home and looking for the massive upset, which would be the second in school history against a Top 5 team — the first coming 80 years ago against No. 4 Tennessee.
Dickert emphasized the need for better tackling from his defense, which ranks 12th in the ACC in passing yards per game allowed and 13th in rushing yards allowed per game.
“I think I emphasize too much,” Dickert said. “We got to take this guy low. We were just diving too much.”
The Hurricanes have defeated the Demon Deacons eight consecutive times and lead the all-time series, 9-3. Miami is also 4-0 all-time at Winston-Salem, but has not played there since 2009.
