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January 2, 2026
FINAL SCORE: Wake Forest 43 Mississippi State 29
Charlotte, NC. – A new year meant a new opportunity for the 2 teams participating in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America stadium in Charlotte. The Mississippi State Bulldogs and Wake Forest Demon Deacons squared off in the post New Years Day bowl game. The Demon Deacons were looking to get their 9th win of the season in coach Jake Dickert’s first season.
1st Half Fireworks
Things got off to a very quick start for both teams as the Bulldogs opened up the game with a 7-play 60 yard scoring drive aided by a Brenen Thompson 51-yard reception on the first play of the game leading to an opening 33-yard field goal from Kyle Ferrie giving the Bulldogs a quick 3-0 lead. The Demon Deacons would respond on the very next play as Koredell Bartley took the kickoff 100 yards for TD. The Deacs would tack on the 2-point conversion to take the 8-3 lead.
Mississippi State would add another FG on their third drive of the game cutting the lead to 8-6. Ferrie would nail a 50-yard FG just over the crossbar. The scoring drive would cover 42 yards on 6 plays. The Bulldogs would use the running game to cover the majority of the drive to keep the Bulldogs offense on schedule.
Kamrean Johnson would tack on a TD for the Demon Deacons on a 14-yard grab from Robbie Ashford at the 3:49 mark of the first quarter. Ashford showed off both the legs and his arm on the 9-play 75 yard scoring drive. The Deacs took a 15-6 lead after the scoring drive.
Mississippi State would cut the lead to 15-9 after Ferrie hit his 3rd FG of the game with 6:15 left in the first half. The Demon Deacon defense would once again hold the Bulldogs to a redzone FG once again thwarting a third straight TD attempt.
2nd Half: More Fireworks
The second half kicked off with more electricity and fireworks as Wake Forest took the opening drive 75 yards for a TD. The drive was capped off by a 61-yard TD grab by Jack Foley who made a spectacular catch on his way to pushing the Wake lead to 21-9. The Deacs would cap the drive off with their 2nd successful 2-point conversion of the night pushing the lead to 23-9.
The Bulldogs would once again have to settle for their 4th field of the night by Ferrie. The 33-yard field goal cut the Wake lead to 23-12. Every time the Bulldogs entered the redzone, the Demon Deacons would bend but not break, keeping Mississippi out of the endzone each time inside the red zone. The Deacons would quickly answer back as Robbie Ashford scampered his way to yet another Deacon touchdown pushing their lead to 30-12 under 4 minutes left in the third quarter. The Deacons offense found cracks in the Bulldog defense with the QB run game.
Mississippi State would answer back with their first touchdown of the night on a 1-run TD by Kamario Taylor. The Bulldogs would finally break the goal line on their 5th red zone trip of the evening. The lead would be cut to 30-20 at the end of the third quarter.
Kamario Taylor and the Bulldogs would strike for another TD as he hit Sanfrancisco Magee for 42 yards to cut the lead to 30-27 with 10:17 left in the game.
The Demon Deacons would answer the Bulldog TD with a 1-yard TD run by Robbie Ashford pushing the lead to 36-27. The Bulldogs would block the PAT attempt and return it all the way back for a 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 36-29.
Robbie Ashford would put the final nail in the coffin as Ashford popped a 62-yard touchdown pass, capping a 65-yard drive to put the game away with 2:20 left in the game. The Demon Deacons would finish the season 9-4 and carry a ton of momentum into the 2026 season.
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