Wake Forest beat Louisville! Here’s a 90-second FAQ on Wakeyleaks, the espionage caper that served as this game’s backdrop

On Saturday, Wake Forest put a revenge whooping on Louisville. After a 44-12 loss last year, the Demon Deacons welcomed the Cardinals to Winston-Salem and beat them, 42-32. This was more of a REVENGE GAME than even the score lets on, however.

That’s because last year, #Wakeyleaks happened. A brief FAQ follows:

What is Wakeyleaks?

It’s a nickname designed to sound like Wikileaks.

What does it refer to, I mean?

Just before Wake lost at Louisville last November, the Demon Deacons happened upon a weird discovery. A member of their travel party had found their game plan documents inside Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium the night earlier.

Wake Forest launched an investigation, and the Wakeyleaks scandal was born.

What actually happened here?

Wake’s investigation led the Deacs to former player and assistant coach Tom Elrod, a radio announcer for the team. The school determined not only that it had a mole, but that Elrod was that mole. The school fired him and banned him from team facilities.

Louisville later suspended offensive coordinator Lonnie Galloway, who might’ve received leaks from Elrod. This video also explains what went down in detail.

Did Bobby Petrino know anything about this, then?

Petrino claimed he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing.

I believe him, because what kind of offensive coordinator would receive parts of an opponent’s game plan on the eve of a game and then tell his offense-minded boss about it? There’s also no reason to doubt Petrino’s good intentions, so don’t worry about a thing.

Were any other teams involved beyond Louisville?

Virginia Tech and Army allegedly caught leaks from Elrod, too. Army suspended one assistant, and Virginia Tech said a former assistant got some intel. (We later learned that assistant was Shane Beamer, the son of former head coach Frank Beamer, whom VT said knew nothing.)

The ACC fined Louisville and Virginia Tech $25,000 apiece.

An internal probe at Indiana turned up no involvement.

What actually got leaked?

Some plays, apparently. The extent of the breach isn’t publicly known.

Does Wake Forest think the leaks were a big deal?

Yeah.

“Louisville is an excellent football team, and it was a game we felt, in order to score points, we had to have some wrinkles,” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said. “And all those wrinkles were right in front of us. And at that point, we knew we had been compromised. And as a result, a lot of those things we had prepared, we couldn’t run because we knew they had it.”

Does Louisville think the leaks were a big deal?

No.

Then-athletic director Tom Jurich said none of the plays Louisville received ahead of time actually got run during the game and that Louisville’s coaches didn’t learn anything they hadn’t already prepared for.

Hold on. Isn’t the Louisville AD the same guy who just got fired amid a wide-reaching FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball and at Louisville specifically?

Yeah.

But there’s no way that AD would’ve been anything less than forthcoming about this matter, right?

Definitely not, IMO.

Have the teams put any lingering bad blood to rest?

I’m not sure. Before the season, defending Heisman-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson said he’d heard that Clawson was the anonymous coach who hated on his NFL upside in a Sports Illustrated story. Clawson called Jackson’s claim “fake news.”

So, are Wake Forest and Louisville now football rivals?

Yep, that’s the rule.