There was something different about Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium on Saturday night. By the time the Wake Forest Demon Deacons took the field against the North Carolina Tar Heels, the place was packed with a sold-out crowd of 32,390. But numbers alone don’t tell you everything. Because that sold-out stadium also had another mind-boggling statistic hidden within.

As per a tweet by the Deacons’ official X page, 4,740 Wake Forest students watched the game at the stadium. To put that into perspective: The university has 5,490 undergraduates enrolled, which means that a staggering 86% of students were present during the game over the weekend.

Taking it a step further, if you consider the total university enrollment (9,322), that means a clean 50% of the populace showed up.

We can all agree that kind of buy-in doesn’t just happen. It’s earned. Perhaps it’s a testament to what first-year head coach Jake Dickert has been building since he arrived from Washington State, with Saturday being the biggest example.

The game was just as electric as you’d think. The Deacons jumped to a 7-0 lead on the game’s opening possession when wide receiver Carlos Hernandez scooped up a fumble and raced 51 yards for a touchdown. From there, Dickert’s team controlled the game. The Tar Heels couldn’t find the end zone all night despite three trips to the red zone, settling for four field goals instead.

Bill Belichick’s team was limited to 257 yards offensively, despite a dominating time of possession (30:02) over their opponent (29:58). In the end, the Demon Deacons recorded 414 yards, while scoring a touchdown in each of the four quarters to seal a win, and make history in the process.

The team’s 28-12 victory served as their first Big-4 win of the Dickert era against UNC, as per the team’s official website. In fact, the coach’s seven wins this season are currently tied for the most by a first-year head coach in program history since 1987 (Bill Dooley).

Jake Dickert achieved the environment he envisioned

After the win, head coach Jake Dickert talked about wanting a similar sold-out, deafening atmosphere in Winston-Salem. His answer revealed how much that crowd meant to him.

“I could feel a difference. I could feel the energy. I could feel the stadium,” he said. “If you’re in the Triad, if you’re from Winston-Salem, you should be proud of this team. If you’re a Wake Forest alum, you should be really proud of this team.”

That pride was evident everywhere you looked Saturday night, from the sea of black and gold in the student section to the way the stadium shook when Hernandez took that flea-flicker to the house.​​ 

When 86% of your student body shows up to watch you beat a rival, when your first-year coach can feel the energy shift on the Deacon Walk before the game even starts, when 32,390 people pack a stadium that’s usually far from capacity, that’s culture. And Dickert has cultivated that thing from scratch.