Wake Forest Rout SMU 49-7 as McAfee and Herbstreit Apologize for Their Pick
Wake Forest pulled off a major statement win in college football in north Texas, beating unranked SMU 49-7 on the road. The Demon Deacons, ranked 13th in the country, led 42-0 by halftime.
Wake Forest had entered the matchup as a 2.5-point underdog. On the field, that prediction was turned completely upside down, and the game was one-sided from the start.
ESPN College GameDay hosts Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit had picked SMU to win. They made the pick during the College GameDay broadcast at Boise State.
The guest on that broadcast was Ian Johnson, the former Boise State running back who scored the game-winning two-point conversion against Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
After SMU fell behind 42-0 at halftime, McAfee and Herbstreit posted a video on social media admitting their mistake. With Herbstreit's arm around his colleague, McAfee said, "We apologize to Wake. Wake is real."
McAfee added, "I don't know what we were thinking." Herbstreit, sounding astonished, said, "Boy, were we wrong."
The SMU pick was not without logic. SMU's high-powered offense had put up 51 points on Virginia Tech the previous week. Wake Forest, however, were also in form, averaging over 50 points over their last three games.
Wake Forest went on to win 49-7. By comparison, when College GameDay visited BYU this season, guest picker Steve Young went perfect with his picks.
