Wake Forest’s seventh straight bowl appearance will be the second in this string to be a pre-Christmas bowl.

The Deacons will play Missouri on Dec. 23 in the Gasparilla Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Wake Forest and Missouri have never played in football before; though there’s bound to be some familiarity in the coaching staffs, with Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz having been an N.C. State offensive coordinator and head coach at Appalachian State for one season.

It’ll be the first time Wake Forest plays in a pre-Christmas bowl since the Birmingham Bowl in 2018, in which the Deacons beat Memphis 34-31.

It’s the second straight year that Wake Forest is playing its bowl in Florida, after winning last year’s Gator Bowl against Rutgers 38-10.

Wake Forest is 4-2 in this streak of bowl berths, and the only SEC team the Deacons have played was Texas A&M — which they beat 55-52 in the 2017 Belk Bowl.