Missouri football falls to Wake Forest in 2022 Gasparilla Bowl

Missouri football would lose to Wake Forest, 27-17, in the 2022 edition of the Gasparilla Bowl. Missouri would only score once in the second half, going for it on downs multiple times in the second half, failing to convert.

The game started out with an early three-and-out punt by Mizzou. Wake Forest’s offense would go toward their high-flying ways early, scoring a touchdown behind A.T. Perry’s hands and Justice Ellison’s rushing attack.

After Wake Forest scored, it like seemed like the Demon Deacons would walk toward this victory (at least to me just because of Mizzou’s opening drive, and the number of opt-outs Missouri had in this game).

Brady Cook would cook and respond with his arm and legs as he would lead the Tigers down the field. They had to settle for three in the red zone as a three-yard loss on the first down set them off schedule.

Wake Forest’s offense would not respond at all, as they went three and out on their next possession. The Tigers couldn’t take advantage of this and had to punt after three plays, as a false start on first down kept them off schedule.

Sam Hartman would lead Wake Forest down for a score behind his arm, and some luck. On fourth down and one in the red zone, Josh Landry committed an offside penalty gifting Wake Forest a first down, and a chance to make it a two-score game.

They would do just that, three plays later on an Ellison one-yard rush. Mizzou would be unable to respond as they couldn’t get anything going on offense.

Missouri’s defense would step up and force Wake Forest to punt after three plays, but Luther Burden III muffed the punt giving the ball back to Wake Forest in the red zone.

Luckily for the Tigers, Jaylon Carlies got an interception off a play where it appeared that Sam Hartman thought he had a free play (due to what he thought was a Mizzou penalty on the play) and decided to make a risky throw in the end zone.

Behind the rushing attack of Cody Schrader, Missouri took it for six, making it a 4 point game going into halftime (Wake Forest would get the ball back before but wouldn’t really do anything on that drive).

Wake Forest would start the third quarter with a first-down conversion after three plays but wouldn’t go anywhere after that, having to punt the ball back to Cook.

Brady Cook used his arm and legs to take it to the house on multiple plays, taking a three-point lead for Missouri. This would be Missouri’s last point of the game.

Wake Forest quickly took the lead behind the Sam Hartman show. The Tigers were down by three with four minutes left in the third. In the interest of not getting repetitive, the Missouri offense basically shut down.

Going three and out on their next drive, going four on out on the drive after that, and the score was 20-17 into the fourth quarter.

The offense would get a little better on their next drive, as they got two first downs before getting stopped at their opponent’s 43 due to a bad pass connection from Cook.

On what ended up being their last chance to win the game (on offense, the defense could have gotten the stop next drive), Brady Cook got sacked on second and two for seven yards, allowing Wake Forest to stop them on third.

Missouri football falls to Wake Forest in 2022 Gasparilla Bowl

Sam Hartman’s arm attack would lead a TD drive that would put Wake Forest up 10 with 2 minutes left to play. The game was practically over. Wake Forest would win the Gasparilla Bowl. As this is an SEC blog, I will not really get into the autopsy of the Demon Deacons season. Basically, they looked like a really fun offense team, but have struggled since Halloween, and never really bounced back since.

At least for a night in Tampa, the defense at least contained Missouri offense, which isn’t something you could say for the whole season. (cough cough looking at you, ever since Louisville’s loss)

While not trying to seem lazy (and I may write an overall grade piece on their season later), I have already said what I wanted to say about Missouri’s season here. Playing with a depleted team doesn’t really change my outlook on this team.

Still, they lost this game because they were unable to stop a very good offense in Wake Forest. Additionally, they were unable to take advantage of Wake Forest’s poor defense, only scoring 17 points in this game and scoring zero in the fourth quarter.

This team stalled as the second-half drive sheet looked like this – Touchdown, punt, ball lost on downs, ball lost on downs, and punt (not adding the last ball lost on downs because the game was over by that point).

Missouri football had a chance to expose a weak defense in Wake Forest and at least have made it a duel between them and Wake Forest with the 8-year bowl-win drought on the line. They couldn’t do that, and as a result, they lost. I really wanted Missouri football to win this game but the offense couldn’t step up.