Friday's Duke's Mayo Bowl was the last FBS postseason game outside the College Football Playoff semifinal bowls and national championship—and it ended in a fashion that underlines bowl season's beautiful silliness.
Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert shepherded his team to a 43–29 win over Mississippi State, the Demon Deacons' ninth of the season. As a reward, Dickert's players poured liquefied mayonnaise on not only the 42-year-old coach, but also his wife Candice and his three children.
Watch the celebration in all its gooey glory here. The bath follows similar treatment in recent years for South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, Maryland coach Mike Locksley, then-West Virginia coach Neal Brown, and Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck.
MAYO DUMP VICTORY 🏆@CoachDickert | @WakeFB pic.twitter.com/n0xVhhgDSV
— Duke's Mayo Bowl (@DukesMayoBowl) January 3, 2026
Real history lurked beneath Wake Forest's postgame hijinks. The Demon Deacons—never much of a football power—won a ninth game for just the fourth time in history. Each of those four seasons has come in the last 20 years; Wake Forest won 11 in 2006, nine in 2007, and 11 in 2021.
Over the course of this offseason, many have wondered what college football will lose if it eventually jettisons the bowl season partially or entirely. The answer is mayonnaise—and the memories that come with it, which Winston-Salem, N.C., will cherish forever.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Wake Forest's Jake Dickert Basks in Mayo Bath After Bowl Win Over Mississippi State.
