Missouri (6-6) takes on Wake Forest (7-5) in the Gasparilla Bowl on Dec. 23 in this first-time-ever matchup between the schools as Mizzou looks to get above .500 for the first time since 2018 and win its first bowl game since the 2014 Citrus Bowl.

Wake Forest’s defense isn't dominant by any means, but like its offense, it has its strengths and weaknesses.

We will go over those strengths and weaknesses here.

1.) Red zone defense

Defensively, Wake Forest struggles at many things including pass defense and scoring defense (more on this later), but what it doesn’t really struggle with is red zone defense. The Demon Deacons enter the game with the nation's 30th-ranked red zone defense at 79%. Mizzou on the other hand struggles with red zone offense and will enter Friday’s game with the 102nd-ranked red zone offense at 79%. The Tigers will have to get over the hump somehow in the red zone, but scoring in the open field may be the team’s best option since the Demon Deacons are better when their backs are against the wall when defending their end zone.

2.) Run Defense

Something many college football fans may realize if they’re watching the Demon Deacons for the first time on Friday is that what they're good at on one side of the ball may not necessarily be the same for them on the other side of the ball.

Offensively, the Demon Deacons own the nation’s 92-ranked rushing attack, but defensively they’re tied for 44th and allow just 137.6 yards per game.

All season Mizzou has said that it needed its run game to open up the passing game and it won’t be different versus Wake Forest. Mizzou isn’t a slouch in the run game and boasts the 62nd rushing attack at 158.7 yards per game, but keep in mind some of that production is due to quarterback Brady Cook’s scrambling abilities on pass plays. It also doesn’t help the Tigers that they rank 119th in tackles for loss allowed at 7.58 per game.

3.) First down defense

It’s not the fanciest stat, but Wake Forest is tied for 57th in first down defense having allowed 246 first downs on the season which is 20.5 per game. That's actually not too bad for the pass-happy Atlantic Coast Conference. Subtract the 13 penalties that Wake Forest committed that resulted in first downs for its opponents and the team allows 19.41 first downs per game.

Mizzou is ranked 100th in first down offense with 220 total first downs on the season for an average of 18.33 first downs per game. Sixteen of those first downs were because of a penalty by its opponents that resulted in a new set of downs for the Tigers. When you remove those penalties Missouri is averaging 17 first downs per game.

That’s significant because Wake Forest is one of the least penalized teams in the country averaging only 4.67 penalties per game which is 20th in the FBS. Conversely, Mizzou is one of the most penalized teams in the country averaging at 7.67 which ranks 120th in the FBS.

So, this is more about what Mizzou does to itself on top of what Wake Forest can do to add to the Tigers' first-down woes.

All of this is to say that if Mizzou plays undisciplined with a number of penalties and gets beat in the trenches and allows a lot of tackles for loss then the Tigers can’t run the ball. If the Tigers can’t do that then they will become one-dimensional and have to pass the ball and even a poor pass defense can play well if it knows the pass is coming.

"I think the strength of their defense is in the box," Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "They do a really good job of stopping the run and keeping the ball in front of them. It's going to be a challenge for us to control the line of scrimmage on both sides."

One of the many storylines for the Tigers this season was about them getting behind the sticks on early downs and getting a new set of downs becomes much harder when you have to consistently gain more than 10 yards.

1.) Pass defense

Much like their rushing attack and run defense 一 Wake Forest is one of the best passing offense's in the nation, but defensively it ranks as one of the worst pass defenses in the nation allowing 273 yards per game which is the 15th-worst in the nation. That pass defense is worse when you consider they will be without starting cornerback Gavin Holmes, who entered the transfer portal. He had 23 tackles and nine pass deflections this season.

Mizzou will be without its leading wide receiver in All-Southeastern Conference second-team selection Dominic Lovett, who also entered the transfer portal. Mizzou will have sixth-year wide receiver Barrett Banister, who was out in week 13 due to injury. Banister had recorded back-to-back career games in weeks 11 and 12 before the injury. The loss of Lovett and Holmes in this game comes off as a wash regardless of how one wants to look at it. Missouri is losing one of the top receivers in the nation while Wake Forest is losing a staring cornerback on a defense that was already struggling mightily with him.

2.) Scoring defense

Ironically, Wake Forest is one of the better teams in red zone defense but it's one of the worst in scoring defense allowing 29.25 points per game which ranks 93rd in the nation. Wake Forest nor any defense in the country wants to allow teams in the red zone, but it's clear the Demon Deacons do their best work in close quarters. How the Demon Deacons perform in the other 80 yards of the field defensively will likely have a large part in whether the Demon Deacons lose for the fifth time in six weeks.

3.) Third down defense

Wake Forest struggles to get off the field defensively on third down and that will benefit Missouri's 66th-ranked third-down offense (39%). The Demon Deacons are 93rd in the nation in third-down defense at 41%. What will be almost as important as third down itself is how the Tigers handle first and second downs. If they don't get behind the sticks on early downs and can force more third and manageable situations then they'll have the advantage.

The theme of this game will be strength (Wake Forest offense) versus strength (Mizzou defense) and weakness (Mizzou offense) versus weakness (Wake Forest defense). Whoever can turn its weakness into a strength on Friday will likely be leaving Tampa the victor.

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