Mizzou will head to Florida the week of Christmas, and play a bowl game.

Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers are headed to Tampa to play Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl on Dec. 23. The game is played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Mizzou secured bowl eligibility with a 6-6 finish in regular-season play by defeating Arkansas 29-27 in the Battle Line Rivalry game. MU was 3-5 in SEC play with out-of-conference wins over Louisiana Tech, Abilene Christian and New Mexico State.

Wake Forest started the season 6-1, securing bowl eligibility with an October win over Boston College, but dropped 4 of its last 5 games to finish 7-5. The Demon Deacons last won against Syracuse (Nov. 19) before dropping the regular-season finale to Duke.

Mizzou is looking for its first bowl victory of Drinkwitz’s tenure. The Tigers were set to play Iowa in the 2020 Music City Bowl but had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues. Last year, Mizzou dropped the Armed Forces Bowl to Army, 24-22.