Towson @ Wake Forest preview

Sam Hartman and Sage Surratt will need to do something special if they are to improve upon their college debuts when Wake Forest hosts Towson on Saturday. Hartman set four school freshmen debut records and Surratt a pair in the season opening win for the Demon Deacons, who will face the Tigers of the FCS for the first time.

Hartman set debut records in passing yards with 378, which were also the 10th-most in school history overall, as well as completions (31), attempts (51) and touchdowns passes (two) while becoming the second Wake Forest quarterback to win his initial start as a freshman. Surratt was on the receiving end of 11 of Hartman's completions for 150 yards, both records for a freshman in his first career game and Greg Dortch also had a big contest with 12 catches and 149 yards, but still the Demon Deacons needed a 1-yard touchdown run by Cade Carney to pull out a 23-17 overtime win at Tulane. "Kind of a little nervous when you first step out there, never been in a college experience before," Surratt, the ACC Freshman of the Week, told the media. "Once I got the first catch under me, it went away." Towson went into its game against Morgan State expecting to play two quarterbacks, but Tom Flacco, a transfer from Rutgers via Western Michigan and the younger brother of NFL quarterback Joe Flacco, kept returnee Ryan Stover on the bench by completing 18-of-28 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns in a 36-10 road victory.

TV: Noon ET, ACC Extra. LINE: None

ABOUT TOWSON (1-0): Flacco, a redshirt junior who completed 10-of-13 passes for 188 yards and one touchdown in two seasons at Western Michigan, spread the ball around against Morgan State, hitting seven different receivers. He found Shane Leatherbury five times, including once for 53 yards and connected for big plays with Chris Clark and Sam Gallahan. "The offenses I have been doing have been no-huddle, so it hasn't been a big adjustment for me," Flacco, who joined Towson in June, told the media. "I was just excited that Towson was new to that (no-huddle) because I knew that we were going to come out and surprise some teams."

ABOUT WAKE FOREST (1-0): The defense gave up some big plays, including touchdown passes of 52 and 74 yards, but mostly held up against Tulane. Essang Bassey, who tied the school record with 19 passed defended last season while earning All-ACC honorable mention honors, added three more in the victory as did sophomore Ja'Sir Taylor. Eric Osteen, a 28-year-old graduate transfer from Army whose last college action came in the Army-Navy game in 2012, kicked off four times against Tulane and had a pair of touchbacks for the Demon Deacons

EXTRA POINTS

1. Redshirt senior LT Justin Herron, who went 469 snaps without allowing a sack last season for the Demon Deacons, was lost for season with a knee injury suffered against Tulane.

2. Dortch, who last season was leading all freshmen in the country in receiving touchdowns (nine), receiving yards (722) and receiving yards per game (90.2) prior to suffering an injury against Louisville, has recorded three straight games with at least 200 all-purpose yards.

3. Wake Forest's Matt Colburn ran for 38 yards on 14 carries against Tulane but saw his streak of 352 straight carries without a fumble, which ranked second in school history to Chris Barclay's 368 from 2004-05, come to an end on the final play of regulation.

PREDICTION: Wake Forest 37, Towson 13