The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-5) take on the Missouri Tigers (6-6) in the Gasparilla Bowl Friday. Kickoff at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium is at 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Wake Forest vs. Missouri odds, and make our expert college football picks and predictions.
Wake Forest is 1-4 straight up (SU) and 1-4 against the spread (ATS) in its last 5 games. Turnovers and dodgy pass defense have been big culprits in the slide. The'Demon Deacons head into their bowl game ranked 13th in ACC pass defense, yielding 272.8 yards per contest.
Missouri’s offense — 83rd in the nation at 25.3 points per game — has cranked out over 450 yards just once since Sept. 24. That was in the Tigers’ last game on Nov.' 25 when they defeated Arkansas 29-27 in part due to 242 yards in the air and 226 on the ground (468 total).
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