TAMPA, Fla. – Sam Hartman completed 23 of 36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns in what was expected to be his final game with Wake Forest, a 27-17 win over Missouri in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday night.
The redshirt junior, named the MVP of the game, now will look at entering the NFL draft or the transfer portal.
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“To my teammates, everyone past, present, it's been incredible,” Hartman said. “To all my teammates, I love you guys.”
Hartman threw his 108th career touchdown pass to set an Atlantic Coast Conference record on a 5-yard strike to Taylor Morin that made it 7-0 in the first quarter. He had been tied with Clemson’s Tajh Boyd (2010-13), and ended up with 110 overall.
Hartman came up 33 yards short of joining North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers (13,484 from 2000-03) as the only quarterbacks in ACC history to reach 13,000 passing yards.
A.T. Perry had 11 receptions for 116 yards for Wake Forest (8-5), which came in having lost four of five.
“This team finished,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “To finish the way we did at the end of the regular season and come back and beat an SEC team like Missouri in a bowl game, to me that's going to be the defining moment of this team.”
Brady Cook threw for 215 yards on 29-of-48 passing for Missouri (6-7). He also rushed for 38 yards on 14 tries.
“Not disappointed in our team, disappointed in myself,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “It's going to be a big offseason for us. I've got to do a lot of reflection on what we're going to do offensively to get this moving because right now it's not good enough."
Missouri has lost four bowl games in a row since the Gary Pinkel-coached Tigers beat Minnesota in the 2014 Capital One Bowl.
Missouri took its first lead, 17-14, when Cody Schrader scored from 4 yards out with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter. He finished with 54 yards on 13 carries.
Wake Forest went ahead 20-17 just 1:16 later when Hartman hooked up with Jahmal Banks for a 48-yard touchdown. Matthew Dennis missed the extra point, which ended the Demon Deacons' streak of 269 consecutive successful tries, dating to Nov. 18, 2017.
Hartman and Morin hooked up for a 16-yard touchdown with 2 1/2 minutes to play,
Justice Ellison put the Demon Deacons ahead 14-3 on a 1-yard TD run five minutes into the second quarter. He had 64 yards on 21 attempts.
After Jaylon Carlies picked off a pass by Hartman in the end zone, Cook connected on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Demariyon Houston to get Missouri within 14-10 2 1/2 minutes before halftime.
Harrison Mevis made a 35-yard field goal to cut the Missouri deficit to 7-3 late in the first quarter.
BOWL BITS
Missouri DE Isaiah McGuire, DE DJ Coleman and S Martez Manuel didn't play after deciding to enter the NFL draft. WR Dominic Lovett sat out after entering the transfer portal. ... Perry has a reception in 34 straight games. ... Missouri C Connor Tollison needed assistance to walk off the field after a second-quarter injury.
IT’S COLD, BUT …
It was 50 degrees at kickoff. At the same time, it was 15 degrees with a feel-like temperature of minus-1 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In Columbia, Missouri, it was 2 degrees but felt like minus-18.
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