Darian Mensah connected on his first 24 passes on the way to setting Atlantic Coast Conference records for consecutive completions, and fifth-ranked Miami’s defense came up with four straight fourth-quarter stops to beat Wake Forest 33-20 on Friday night.

Mensah completed 30-of-34 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns, including a 9-yarder to Joshua Moore on the game’s first possession and a perfect-execution throw back to the left side on Elija Lofton’s 21-yard score.

Menah added a short TD throw to star sophomore receiver Malachi Toney as Miami (3-0, 2-0) took a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter, only to see its prolific offense grind to an abrupt halt with four straight three-and-outs while seeing multiple players get banged up.

That ultimately gave the Hurricanes’ defense its chance to step up as Wake Forest tried to rally.

Gio Lopez threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns for the Demon Deacons (2-1, 0-1), including a perfect throw to the back right corner of the end zone for Carlos Hernandez on a 17-yard strike that pulled Wake Forest to 31-20 with 14:56 left.

But from there, Miami’s defense pressured Lopez in the end zone to draw a holding penalty for a safety. Then, after Wake Forest drove all the way to the Miami 13, the Hurricanes again pressured Lopez into an inaccurate throw on fourth down in the end zone.

Miami freshman JJ Dunnigan followed by rushing around the end to harass Lopez into another hurried and off-target throw on fourth down with 5:24 left. Then Ethan O’Connor picked off Lopez’s pass at the 2:24 mark in the red zone, effectively ending this one.

–photo and story courtesy of ACC