Virginia opens as a four-point Vegas favorite over Wake Forest

The Virginia Cavaliers dropped their first game of the season in a 39-59 loss to the No. 21 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday and in doing so, also failed to cover the 10 points Vegas gave them. Heading into Week 4 against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Cavaliers are four-point favorites as they look to regain their footing in the ACC race.

Wake Forest, meanwhile, is off to a 3-0 start, including a 35-14 win over Florida State last week, a game in which they were favored by 4.5 points. They also beat ODU 42-10 and Norfolk State 41-16 in their apparent race for the Commonwealth championship.

Virginia is now 2-1 against the spread. Here’s how they fared each week against the spread, per TeamRankings:

• W vs. William & Mary -30
• W vs. Illinois -10
• L at North Carolina +10

Virginia is 34-16-0 all time against Wake Forest, but has lost in each of their four previous meetings—apparently only on election years, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. Three of these past four meetings were away games.

Opening lines elsewhere around the ACC:

• Liberty -7 at Syracuse
• Kansas at Duke -13
• Missouri at Boston College PK
• North Carolina -12.5 at Georgia Tech
• Louisville -1 at Florida State
• Clemson -12 at NC State

The full Week 4 lines are here:

Kickoff against Wake Forest is scheduled at 7:00 p.m. this Friday, September 24. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.