The SportsWire

Virginia at #14Wake Forest

Prediction · week 9, 2026 · Sat Oct 31, 2:45 PM CT · Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium

Updated Sun Oct 25, 5:13 PM CT

Virginia4-4
Upcoming
#14Wake Forest6-1

Sat Oct 31, 2:45 PM CT · Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium

UVAVirginia · 4-4 Sat Oct 31, 2:45 PM CT WAKEWake Forest · 6-1

26%Our win chance74%

Our win chance: Wake Forest 74% · Virginia 26% · experimental, see how it is tested

Model comparison

9 of 9 models favor Wake Forest

ModelSaysWin chance
SP+
Virginia +6.6 vs Wake Forest +13.6 · week 8 ratings
Wake Forest by 9.5Wake Forest 75%
Elo
Virginia 1581 vs Wake Forest 1766
Wake Forest by 9.9Wake Forest 76%
Our model · experimental
no snapshot for this game
n/a–
ESPN FPI
Virginia +5.6 vs Wake Forest +15.4
Wake Forest by 12.2Wake Forest 81%
SRS
Virginia +2.1 vs Wake Forest +12.9
Wake Forest by 13.3Wake Forest 83%
Sagarin
Virginia +75.1 vs Wake Forest +82.1
Wake Forest by 10.9Wake Forest 78%
Sonny Moore
Virginia +74.7 vs Wake Forest +85.8
Wake Forest by 15.0Wake Forest 86%
The Margin
The Margin's model
Wake Forest by 13Wake Forest 83%
Record
Wake Forest 6-1, Virginia 4-4
Wake Forest (better record)–
Market
the market's pregame margin
Wake Forest by 14Wake Forest 84%

Each margin is from the same weekly ratings the team pages use: SP+ and Elo from their rating gap, the home team given 2.5 points (none at a neutral site); Our model is this site's experimental rating; Market is the margin the market expected before kickoff; ESPN FPI, SRS, Sagarin and Sonny Moore are rating gaps like SP+'s (each with its own home field), The Margin is that site's own model, and Record names the team with the better record (the home team on equal records). How these work ›

Matchup efficiency

Efficiency matchup · season to date · Wake Forest 7 games, Virginia 8 games

Edge: Wake Forest wins 3 of 5

Wake Forest moves the ball better, has the edge on big plays and allows fewer big plays. Virginia stops plays better and is more disruptive.

Wake Forestlonger bar = betterVirginia
  • 49%✓ Moves the ballsuccessful plays 45%
  • 41% Stops playssuccessful plays allowed ✓40%
  • 16% Disruptionsacks, TFLs, turnovers ✓17%
  • 1.34✓ Big playson offense 1.11
  • 1.10✓ Big plays allowedon defense 1.22

Run game, head to head · season to date

Wake Forest's runs work 49% of the time; Virginia's run defense allows 41%. Virginia's runs work 47% of the time; Wake Forest's run defense allows 36%.

More numbers
MeasureWake ForestVirginiaEdge
Off. success rate49.1%44.7%Wake Forest
Off. explosiveness1.341.11Wake Forest
Def. success rate allowed41.0%39.8%Virginia
Def. explosiveness allowed1.101.22Wake Forest
Havoc created15.5%16.6%Virginia
  • Run game, success rate: Wake Forest offense 49.5% · Virginia defense allows 41.2% · edge: Wake Forest
  • Run game, success rate: Virginia offense 46.5% · Wake Forest defense allows 36.3% · edge: even
  • Run game, PPA per play: Wake Forest offense +0.26 · Virginia defense allows +0.09 · edge: Wake Forest
  • Run game, PPA per play: Virginia offense +0.19 · Wake Forest defense allows -0.03 · edge: even
  • Success rate: how often a play does its job, gaining enough yards to keep the offense on schedule.
  • Explosiveness: how big a team's successful plays are on average; a higher number means more big gains.
  • Havoc: how often the defense blows up a play with a sack, a tackle for loss, a takeaway or a pass broken up.
  • PPA (predicted points added): how many points an average play is worth to the offense; above zero is good for the offense, below zero good for the defense.

How to read this

  • Each row compares the two teams on one measure of how well they have played this season, offense and defense, using every game so far with garbage time (plays late in a decided game) left out.
  • The run game rows pair one team's rushing offense with the other's run defense. The row goes to whichever side is further from the FBS baseline this season, the offense by how far it runs above it, the defense by how much less it allows (baseline: run success rate 43%, PPA per play +0.08, the midpoint of what FBS offenses gain and FBS defenses allow, since both also play FCS teams), so two strong sides or two weak ones are judged by which is the more so. Edges within 3 points of success rate or 0.05 PPA are even. A strong run offense against a weak run defense is where a team can control the game on the ground.
  • In the five rows at the top the longer bar is the better number: bars are scaled within each row, and in the two "allowed" rows the lower number gets the longer bar.
  • Success rate is the share of plays that kept the offense on schedule (half the yards needed on first down, most of them on second, all of them on third or fourth). Explosiveness is how big the successful plays were, on average, in points. Havoc is the share of the opponent's snaps the defense wrecked: a tackle for loss, a sack, a takeaway or a pass broken up.
  • "Allowed" rows are what each defense gave up, so the lower value wins.
  • These are not adjusted for who each team has played, so a light schedule flatters a team, and early in the season they rest on very few games.
  • Metrics explained: success rate, explosiveness and havoc ›

The prediction

All 9 models favor Wake Forest (SP+ from the week 8 snapshot).

Our call posts Monday when this week's ratings are set.

SP+ has Wake Forest by 9.5, Elo has Wake Forest by 9.9, ESPN FPI has Wake Forest by 12.2, SRS has Wake Forest by 13.3, Sagarin has Wake Forest by 10.9, Sonny Moore has Wake Forest by 15.0, The Margin has Wake Forest by 13.0, and Market has Wake Forest by 14.0. They are within 5.5 points of each other.

Last 5 meetings

Virginia leads 34–18 · last: Wake Forest 16–9, 2025

SeasonResultSite
2025Wake Forest 16–9Scott Stadium
2024Virginia 31–30Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium
2021Wake Forest 37–17Scott Stadium
2020Wake Forest 40–23Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium
2016Wake Forest 27–20Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium

Team pages