Wake Forest didn’t close out the regular season how it wanted to, but it certainly finished off its bowl game in ideal fashion.
The Deacons held off Missouri 27-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Wake Forest (8-5) trailed briefly in the third quarter, but Sam Hartman threw one of his three touchdown passes — making him the ACC’s all-time leader with 110 — to give the Deacons the lead less than 80 seconds after they’d relinquished it.
Hartman threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Morin with 2:33 left to just about seal the game.
That was the cushion Wake Forest needed, since its defense forced two punts and three turnovers on downs on Missouri’s last five possessions.
Hartman didn’t wait long in his final game as a Deacon to become the ACC’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes. He finished off Wake’s first drive — only the third time this season the Deacons opened the game with a touchdown — with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Morin.
The fifth-year quarterback shared the record with former Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd.
Missouri (6-7) took its first lead of the game on Cody Schrader’s 4-yard touchdown run with 5:45 left in the third quarter. That came at the end of a 13-play, 83-yard drive that swallowed 6:22 off the clock.
Wake’s response was swift and efficient; Hartman completed passes of 15 and 12 yards to A.T. Perry and Jahmal Banks, respectively, and then found a wide-open Banks downfield for a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown to put the Deacons back in front.
Matthew Dennis missed the PAT — Wake’s first missed PAT since 2017 — so the lead was 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter.
Wake’s defense held Missouri to a combined 43 yards on its last five possessions.
Playing its seventh consecutive bowl game — previously the program’s longest streak of bowl berths was three seasons — Wake Forest was rolling midway through the second quarter when things flipped.
Justice Ellison’s 1-yard touchdown plunge put the Deacons in the lead 14-3 and, thanks to an ill-advised punt return attempt that became long-snapper Will Cobb recovering a fumble, Wake Forest was in position for a third score.
But Hartman was picked off in the end zone on a play that looked like Missouri had at least one defensive player in the neutral zone. Coach Dave Clawson confirmed in the halftime interview via ESPN that the pass was thrown into double coverage because Hartman thought he had a free play.
The flag never came, and the Tigers took the ensuing drive 80 yards on seven plays — the bulk coming on a 36-yard run by quarterback Brady Cook — for a touchdown that made it a 14-10 deficit.
That was the score at halftime; Wake Forest reached Missouri’s 42-yard line in the final two minutes, but ran the ball on third-and-10 and punted with 1:07 left.
Missouri crossed midfield in the final seconds but didn’t get any late-half points.
