In a season defined by narrow losses, Missouri saved one more for the 2022 finale, falling to Wake Forest, 27-17, in Friday’s Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Fla. The loss extended Mizzou’s bowl drought another year and means Eli Drinkwitz will have to wait until his fourth season to produce his first winning record.
The defeat ended Mizzou’s season at 6-7 for the second straight year — with four of those losses coming by a touchdown or less. This was a one-possession game most of the night until Sam Hartman added to his record-breaking night with his second touchdown pass to Taylor Morin with 2:33 left.
Drinkwitz, rewarded with a contract extension and lucrative pay raise midway through the season, now stands 17-19 through three years. The coming weeks and months will be critical for the Tigers as Drinkwitz decides what to do with the opening on his offensive staff and how to pursue the transfer portal, perhaps for another quarterback.
This one, though, came down to too many penalties, botched third- and fourth-down opportunities and one reckless play on special teams. The Tigers committed nine penalties for 85 yards, converted just 8 of 19 third downs and three times turned it over on downs in the second half. Without his No. 1 receiver and down two starters along the offensive line, Brady Cook put together a few promising drives early but couldn’t sustain enough drives late. The Tigers were scoreless on their final five possessions.
For the night, Cook completed 29 of 48 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown and was sacked four times.
The Tigers ended the second quarter with their best offensive series of the night, getting a 16-yard Cody Schrader run and a 36-yard Cook keeper to get deep inside Wake territory. The Tigers avoided a disaster on the goal line when backup center Drake Heismeyer zipped a shotgun snap to Cook before he expected it, but he snagged it with one hand, scrambled right and found Demaryion Houston for the touchdown, cutting Wake’s lead to 14-10. Mizzou took its first lead in the third quarter on Schrader’s 4-yard touchdown run, but Hartman played like the more poised veteran, leading Wake right back with a touchdown pass against broken coverage, taking the lead for good with a 48-yard score.
More from the Tigers’ fourth straight bowl loss:
Rocky night for Burden
Luther Burden’s final game of his freshman season included some good, some bad and some ugly. The rookie receiver was Brady Cook’s favorite target early in the absence of All-SEC wideout Dominic Lovett, now a Georgia Bulldog. Burden snagged six passes for a team-high 50 yards in the first half on eight targets, consistently giving the Tigers some yards after the catch on short throws. But he also had a drop on a wide-open throw over the middle and midway through the second quarter committed the biggest gaffe of the half.
After a Mizzou defensive stop forced a punt, Burden attempted to scoop the ball off the turf with a few Wake tacklers nearby but never came close to securing the ball, giving the ball back to Wake. Burden appeared to take a shot to the head on the play and soon headed to the locker room for the rest of the half. Safety Jaylon Carlies bailed out Burden as play resumed, picking off Hartman in the end zone to kill the drive. Burden didn’t return the rest of the half but was back on the field for the Tigers’ first series of the third quarter, but cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine took over his punt return duties. Burden finished with seven catches for 72 yards
Penalties, injuries haunt Tigers
The Tigers looked rusty early, like a team that hadn’t play a game in four weeks. Penalties popped up at the worst times, on both sides of the ball, and injuries further depleted a roster already missing some key players. By the second quarter the Tigers were down two starting offensive linemen: Right guard Connor Wood left the game in the first quarter with a lower left leg injury, while center Connor Tollison came off the field in the second quarter with a left ankle injury. Heismeyer replaced Tollison at center, getting the most extensive playing time of his career. Mitchell Walters took over for Wood at right guard.
The Tigers also lost wide receiver Tauskie Dove in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury on an incomplete pass, the same play when Tollison got hurt.
Defensive end Tyrone Hopper, making his first start, left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury. Hopper and Johnny Walker Jr. started in place of regular starters Isaiah McGuire and D.J. Coleman, who both opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL draft. Fellow senior defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat made the trip but wasn’t dressed for the game. The Tigers were so thin on the edge that defensive tackle Jayden Jernigan took turns at defensive end.
The Tigers were flagged for five penalties on offense for 35 yards and four on defense for 50 yards.
Depleted defense up and down
Mizzou’s defense bent at times, broke some, too, but gave the Tigers chances to keep the game competitive. On their first series, the Demon Deacons converted a couple third downs on their opening series, getting a costly pass interference penalty on Abrams-Draine to set up a first-and-goal situation. Hartman delivered a historic pass for the go-ahead score, a 5-yard pass to Morin in the back of the end zone, the 108th passing TD of his career to break the ACC’s career record.
Another Mizzou defensive penalty helped Wake’s next drive, when D-tackle Josh Landry jumped offsides on fourth-and-1, erasing the Tigers’ chance to make the short-yardage stop. Three plays later Justice Ellison punched in a 1-yard touchdown for a 14-3 lead.
Hartman added to his ACC record in the third quarter with a 48-yard touchdown pass against a busted coverage, pushing Wake back in front 20-17.
