Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson on Gasparilla Bowl matchup with Missouri
At 3:30 ET on Sunday, head coach Dave Clawson and Wake Forest learned their bowl fate — the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa against Missouri. When they did, the team was pleased with multiple aspects of the game.
“When we announced to the team that this is where we were going, they were very excited,” Clawson said Tuesday in his bowl announcement press conference. “The combination of the location, being able to go to Florida for the second-consecutive year, and the opponent, we love it when we get an opportunity to compete against the SEC.”
In his short time scouting the Tigers since the bowl announcement, Clawson sees a team that can challenge Wake Forest on both sides of the ball.
“What strikes out is their balance,” he said. “They've always run the outside zone play extremely well. They have dynamic receivers, a very efficient quarterback. They'll be difficult to defend. On defense, [they’ve] only given up 25 points a game and they've been statistically near the top.”
READ: Wake Forest running back Christian Turner enters transfer portal
Even though Wake Forest has never faced off against Missouri, their head coach is one Clawson and the program knows well. For three years, Eliah Drinkwitz served as the offensive coordinator for in-state rival NC State, and he spent another year with Appalachian State. During those four years, the Deacs faced Drinkwitz’s offense three times, going 2-1.
“I know Eli very well,” Clawson said. “I have a lot of respect for him. I got to know him when he was the OC at NC State, and he did a great job there with the offense. He then did a great job at App, and had a great season there and had a lot of big wins. Now he's done a great job at Missouri.”
While a 6-6 record is typically that of a mid-level SEC team, the Tigers put forth several exceptional performances throughout the season. In October, Missouri put No. 1 Georgia on the ropes more than any other team this season — the Bulldogs didn’t score the game-winner until the four-minute mark in the fourth quarter.
Additionally, Drinkwitz’s team defeated Arkansas 29-27 in the “Battle Line Rivalry” and beat No. 19 South Carolina — a team that took down No. 5 Tennessee and No. 7 Clemson in consecutive weeks — 23-10.
This year is probably one of his best seasons,” Clawson said. “To start out 2-4 and keep the team together, and to finish the way that they did, by winning four of their last six and their last two to be bowl eligible. That's not easy to do.”
READ: Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz "excited" to face Wake Forest in Gasparilla Bowl
Clawson also sees several similarities between both teams. Both programs are looking forward to playing a good bowl in a nice location, but at 7-5 and 6-6, respectively, each team knows the season could’ve gone differently.
“They won six, but then you look at the season of what could have been,” Clawson said. “They have a three-point loss to Auburn, a four-point loss to probably the best team in the country [in] Georgia, a four-point loss to Kentucky and a seven-point loss to Florida. There's four one-score games. You flip that, and this could easily be a 10-win team.”
As with every team in the country, the actual team that Clawson will be bringing with him to Tampa is currently unclear. As of the posting of this article, eight Deacons have entered the transfer portal, five of whom are on the team’s depth chart.
“In some cases, if they've done everything right and we don't have room for them to come back, I'm not going to penalize them by not letting them play in the bowl game,” Clawson said. “One of the young men in there, we'd like to have him back, but he let us know late that he'd like to come back, and we've already recruited the position. I'm not going to penalize him because he still wants to play college football.”
Additionally, injuries will play a factor.
“There's one player that we know is going to be out because [of] season-ending surgery.,” Clawson said. When we get back this week, we'll see how some of the rehabs are going. We'll have a much better idea in the next week to 10 days, but I think everyone's trending in a good direction.”
Quarterback Sam Hartman is another name to watch for the Gasparilla Bowl. After declaring he would leave Wake Forest after the season, presumably for the NFL, Hartman told the media he would play in the bowl game following the loss to Duke.
READ: Wake Forest Football Transfer Portal Tracker
According to Clawson, Hartman has affirmed that statement to the coaching staff, but in the current era of college football, things can change quickly.
“Sam is a guy that's going to finish what he started,” Clawson said. “We'd love to see him break the ACC touchdown pass record. I think his intention, right now, is to try to prepare and go to the NFL Draft. Whatever decisions Sam makes, we support him. When the bowl game is over, if there's some incredible offer for him to go to another school and get life-changing money, how can we fault him for that?”
Wake Forest and Missouri will kick off at 6:30 ET, Dec. 23 on ESPN.
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Essex is the lead football writer and a managing editor for Deacons Daily. Essex served as the Sports Editor for the Old Gold & Black for two years, in addition to roles as a beat and feature writer.