Let’s get this out of the way first: They’re all big games.

And now let’s kill the cliché and be realistic: Some of them are a whole lot bigger than others.

This preview list will look at Wake Forest’s five most-important games of the upcoming season, Dave Clawson’s ninth as coach of the Deacons.

Realistic expectations of Wake Forest are in the process of being redefined. Last season’s breakthrough 11-win campaign was the program’s second double-digit win season in school history – and it’s not farfetched to think the third could be on the verge of starting.

Here are the five most-important games for the Deacons to win this season:

Date: Sept. 24

Location: Truist Field

Last meeting; series: Clemson won 48-27 in 2021; Clemson leads 69-17-1.

Overview: Don’t overthink the obvious.

Beating Clemson to open its ACC slate would put Wake Forest in the driver’s seat early to repeat as Atlantic Division champs. Of note is that a week after coming to Winston-Salem, Clemson will welcome N.C. State to Death Valley – the Tigers could essentially be out of the division race by Oct. 1.

I digress …

Wake Forest hasn’t beaten Clemson since 2008; the game that led to Clemson hiring Dabo Swinney as its interim coach.

Clemson is back in the preseason driver’s seat as Atlantic Division favorite because one down season (by Little Ole Clemson’s standards) doesn’t undo a dynasty, the Tigers can’t figure to have as bad injury luck as last season, and because they’ve recruited on a different level than any ACC team over the last few years.

That all can change if Wake Forest notches a win here.

Wake Forest wins if: Oh, so many scenarios come to mind here …

Though it may feel like it, Wake Forest doesn’t have to play a perfect game to slay this Tiger (intentional and I hate myself). Clemson showed vulnerabilities last season and if it’s another year with mediocre-at-best quarterback play, the Deacons should have a large advantage in that category.

The single-biggest factor for a Wake Forest win: If Wes Goodwin is not a Brent Venables clone as Clemson’s new defensive coordinator.

In the past eight seasons, Wake’s offense was arguably more efficient against Clemson during the first two, when the Deacons’ playbook was compromised and they were one of the worst offenses in the country. Scoring 13 and 27 points against the Tigers in 2020 and ’21, respectively, was at least a step in the right direction after combined scores of 115-6 in 2018 and ’19.

The constant was Venables, the Tigers’ defensive mastermind – though, all things considered, it doesn’t take a large degree of football intelligence to tell your NFL-bound defensive tackles to blow up the middle of the line every play.

But Venables finally became a head coach, and so in steps Goodwin – who hasn’t been an on-field coach with Clemson, but has served two stints as an analyst with the Tigers.

Date: Nov. 5

Location: Carter-Finley Stadium

Last meeting; series: Wake Forest won 45-42 in 2021; N.C. State leads 67-42-6

Overview: N.C. State’s preseason hype machine surpassed Wake Forest sometime between January and July and that means nothing on the verge of fall camp and it’ll mean even less once the season starts.

The Wolfpack’s hype isn’t without merit: Devin Leary’s ball security and efficiency are valuable, and will be especially helpful as N.C. State breaks in new playmakers at skill positions. And the defense, if healthy, is the only one in the ACC that can rival Clemson as the league’s best.

Last year’s matchup in Winston-Salem was a best-on-best showdown between Wake’s offense and the Wolfpack’s defense, and I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to fast-forward to see Part II of that this season – between the two units, there are 19 returning starters.

It’s worth noting a few things: This is N.C. State’s homecoming game and the Wolfpack will have a couple of extra days of rest, having a Thursday night game against Virginia Tech on Oct. 27.

Wake Forest wins if: The first thing to overcome will be the atmosphere; as long as N.C. State hasn’t gone full … well, full N.C. State, this will be the most-charged-up atmosphere Wake Forest plays in front of all season.

As long as the Deacons aren’t overwhelmed by that, this lines up as another four-quarter knock-down, drag-em-out slugfest. Each of the last two meetings between these teams has seen a 45-42 score, and four of the last five matchups have been down-to-the-wire thrillers.

Those types of games haven’t been the 50-50 toss-ups that you’d think under Clawson. Wake Forest is 18-10 in games decided by eight points or less since the start of the 2016 season – holding an advantage in turnovers and special teams can tip the scales in those types of games.

So if these teams are as equal in November as they appear on paper in July, and the Deacons aren’t overwhelmed by a raucous environment, another conquest in Raleigh is achievable.

I’m not going to say Wake Forest will win the Atlantic by going 1-1 against the other top two teams; but the Deacons followed that script last year to Charlotte.

Date: Nov. 12

Location: Truist Field

Last meeting; series: UNC won 58-55 in 2021; UNC leads 71-36-2.

Overview: Revenge is a dish best ser—eh, don’t want to give away any potential ledes here.

Given the carbon copy of a game that Wake Forest has lost in Chapel Hill the last two seasons, it’s impossible to think revenge won’t be at the forefront of the Deacons’ minds for this game – even if they won’t admit it.

(I’m reminded of Matthew Colburn II’s trip to Louisville as a senior, him swearing it wasn’t personal earlier that week, and then ripping off a 74-yard touchdown run and making an “L’s down” signal as he celebrated; admitting after the game that it was, indeed, personal.)

This is a UNC team that looks much different than the past two seasons starting with the obvious: Sam Howell is no longer the Tar Heels’ quarterback. Who fills that role is still to be determined – basically what we know of UNC’s offense right now is, “the ball will go to Josh Downs a lot.”

Wake Forest wins if: This probably comes down to defense, as boring as that is for a matchup that’s given us a combined score of 117-108 in the last two years.

Wake’s new defensive staff will have had plenty of time by this point of the season to iron out any possible early issues. The problem to watch out for in this game will be depth – by the 10th game of the season, the Deacons could be thin in the usual places (linebacker and safety).

Both of these teams, ironically, hired retread defensive coordinators who previously coached under a different head coach. Brad Lambert is back at Wake Forest after coaching under Jim Grobe from 2001-10; Gene Chizik is back at UNC after a stint with Larry Fedora from 2015-16.

We’ll see whose “what’s old is new again” coordinator has their unit clicking in a mid-November showdown.

Date: Oct. 29

Location: Cardinal Stadium

Last meeting; series: Wake Forest won 37-34 in 2021; Louisville leads 6-3.

Overview: If you know what to make of Scott Satterfield’s tenure at Louisville in three seasons, I’m all ears.

The former Appalachian State coach inherited Bobby Petrino’s mess – and that’s probably too kind a word – and went 8-5 in his first season, winning ACC coach of the year.

The Cardinals are 10-14 since then. Even if you give them a pass for the COVID season, 6-7 last season with a quarterback (Malik Cunningham) who’s more like Lamar Jackson than anybody would’ve predicted is remarkable.

But now there’s this: Louisville has as much recruiting momentum as anyone in the ACC not named Clemson or Miami. That obviously doesn’t translate into anything on the field this season … but an eight- or nine-win season would change this program’s trajectory (yet again).

For Louisville to get to 8-9 wins, it’s going to need a win against Wake Forest. For Wake Forest to hold serve with the other two top teams in the Atlantic, it’s going to need a road win here.

It’s notable that this is Louisville’s first game against the Atlantic’s Big 3; the Cardinals are at Clemson on Nov. 12 and play host to N.C. State on Nov. 19.

Wake Forest wins if: It really might be as simple as containing Cunningham.

This late in the season, we’ll have a firm handle on how improved (or not) Wake’s defense has gotten. Hence, we’ll know how capable or incapable the Deacons will be of containing the best runner of the ACC’s quarterbacks.

Side note: It wasn’t until listing out these games that I realized three of Wake’s four toughest games come in a row between the last weekend in October and the first two in November.

That’s a grueling stretch and if Wake Forest has beaten Clemson, going 2-1 through these three weeks will probably still have the Deacons in a good position to win the Atlantic again.

Date: Sept. 10

Location: Vanderbilt Stadium

Last meeting; series: Vanderbilt won 23-21 in 2013; Vanderbilt leads 10-6.

Overview: Please, hold your laughter until I explain.

The last four games are important for Wake Forest to win by any means necessary. You’ll take a one-point win in any of them just like you’d take a 30-point win.

This one is important to win, too – but as long as it plays out the way it’s expected to, it matters by how much.

The SEC’s doormat hasn’t had a winning season since 2013. Clark Lea may eventually get Vanderbilt headed in the right direction, but coming off of a 2-10 season in his first year doesn’t lead to many predictions of rapid improvement this season.

So you have a perennial bottom feeder of the SEC against an ACC team that’s going to start the season in the Top 25 …

Wake Forest needs a win in this game to get to 2-0; The ACC needs a Wake Forest win to flex what muscle it has left amid the latest realignment rumors and conjecture.

And given where each program is, the larger the margin, the better for the folks in … (it’s still Greensboro as of 11:07 a.m. on July 30, 2022).

Wake Forest wins if: It’s not just going to happen magically by Wake Forest showing up.

But the Deacons’ margin for error in this game is probably wider than the four previously listed games.

Vanderbilt wasn’t a train wreck offensively last season and returns the bulk of its production, so this will at least be an early test of Wake’s defense. If inconsistency issues are still present, that’ll cause some concern.

Wake Forest should be able to cruise, though, and it’ll be part of a three-game ramp toward the ACC opener against Clemson.