Wake Forest is eager to make school history in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Mississippi State will be trying to avoid making history when it meets the Demon Deacons on Friday night in Charlotte, N.C.
Wake Forest (8-4) won six of seven before losing to Duke, 49-32, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 29.
“I feel like this group has unfinished business,” first-year head coach Jake Dickert said. “We have an opportunity to get to nine wins and be one of the top four teams in Wake Forest history. We kind of fell on our face in the Duke game. I think there is a little bit of an edge from that football game for our guys wanting to finish.”
Wake Forest won 11 games in 2006 and 2021 and won nine games in 2007.
Wake Forest will be missing a few key players for the bowl game. Second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference running back Demond Claiborne is focusing on the NFL draft and three other key players — defensive lineman Mateen Ibirogba and wide receivers Chris Barnes and Micah Mays Jr. — are entering the transfer portal and won’t participate.
The defense will lean even more heavily on first-team All-ACC safety Nick Andersen, who tied for third in the conference with 94 tackles.
Ty Clark will replace Claiborne as the starting running back, but it will be quarterback Robby Ashford who will be counted on the most to lift the offense.
Dickert said adding a bowl victory to notable wins against SMU, Virginia and North Carolina has the available players excited.
“These seniors don’t want to just participate in the game,” he said. “They want to be the champion of the game. We’re going to put a banner up here. It is either going to say ‘participant’ or ‘champion.'”
The university rewarded Dickert with a contract extension for the turnaround after consecutive 4-8 finishes under former head coach Dave Clawson. Those teams not only weren’t bowl eligible, but they couldn’t back into a bowl berth the way Mississippi State (5-7) did when there weren’t enough six-win teams to fill all the bowl slots after opt-outs.
Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said his team “definitely” didn’t expect to receive a bowl bid when the selection process began. But when the opportunity arose, Lebby said it was “a no-brainer” to accept.
But if the Bulldogs lose they will become just the seventh bowl team to finish 5-8.
“There’s a ton of positives,” to being able to prepare for and participate in a bowl game, Lebby said, especially with a handful of new assistant coaches joining Lebby’s staff, most notably former Bulldogs head coach Zach Arnett, who’s returning as defensive coordinator.
The Bulldogs will be missing only one key player — quarterback Blake Shapen, who is focused on preparation for the draft. Shapen started 11 games this season but was hobbled late in the season.
Freshman Kamario Taylor saw significant playing time in two games before starting in Shapen’s place against Ole Miss in the Nov. 28 regular-season finale. He rushed 20 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 178 yards with an interception in the 38-19 loss.
