Which Coach Gets a Mayo Bath? Our Staff Makes Their Duke's Mayo Bowl Picks
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The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-4, 4-4 ACC) hope to become only the fourth team in program history to win nine games in a season. That potential ninth win can come tonight against Mississippi State (5-7, 1-7 SEC) in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
This will be the 24th bowl game played in Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium and the sixth iteration of the game known as the Duke's Mayo Bowl. The first game was played in 2002, when the game was known as the Continental Tire Bowl. Since then, it's also been known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Belk Bowl.
Wake Forest played in the first Duke's Mayo Bowl in 2020, losing to Wisconsin 42-28. A new bowl season tradition was created when the bowl game was renamed the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Instead of getting a traditional postgame Gatorade bath, the winning coach is doused in gallons of Duke's Mayo. Last year's lucky recipient was PJ Fleck of the Minnesota Gophers.
This year, will it be Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert or Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby? Our staff, for the most part, thinks that Dickert will be the lucky coach, as nine of us have Wake Forest winning the game. Only three of our staff have picked the Bulldogs to get the win.
We do, though, predict it will be a close game. Our average predicted margin of victory is just under a touchdown (6.5 points). We are also predicting a total of 48.5 points to be scored in the game. That works out to an average prediction of Wake Forest winning 28-21.
We all made predictions because we have done so all throughout this incredible season that the Deacs have been on. But at the end of the day, our picks for the Duke's Mayo Bowl won't change the top of our season leaderboard.
Sean sits at 10-2. I am right behind him at 9-3. He's picked Mississippi State, and I have picked Wake Forest. If the Bulldogs win, he moves to 11-2 and is the outright winner for the season. If Wake Forest wins, we both end at 10-3. That's when our tiebreakers kick in. The next tiebreaker is how many times a writer came the closest in their weekly predictions. Sean has done that three times this season, compared to my one time. So, he'd win the tiebreaker, and thus, he has already won the season race. Congrats, Sean!
Staff Leaderboard after the Regular Season
Place | Name | Wins | Losses | Closest | Cumulative Differential |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sean | 10 | 2 | 3 | 242 |
2 | Barry | 9 | 3 | 1 | 259 |
3 | Carson | 8 | 4 | 4 | 222 |
4 | Brett | 8 | 4 | 2 | 241 |
5 | Ryder | 8 | 4 | 1 | 227 |
6 | Keylor | 8 | 4 | 1 | 294 |
7 | JD | 8 | 4 | 0 | 277 |
8 | Blake | 7 | 5 | 1 | 245 |
9 | Andrew | 7 | 5 | 1 | 261 |
10 | Justin* | 7 | 2 | 0 | 181 |
11 | Evan* | 6 | 4 | 0 | 244 |
12 | Ian* | 4 | 3 | 0 | 182 |
* Writers who joined the staff after Week One
Staff Predictions - Wake Forest vs. Mississippi State
Andrew Bauhs (7-5; one closest prediction) - Wake Forest 31-29
Barry Lewis (9-3; one closest prediction) - Wake Forest 27-24
Blake Robison (7-5; one closest prediction) - Wake Forest 27-20
Brett Gibbons (8-4; two closest predictions) - Wake Forest 27-13
Carson Wersal (8-4; four closest predictions) - Wake Forest 24-14
Evan Harris* (6-4) - Mississippi State 30-28
Ian Napetian* (4-3), Wake Forest 27-24
JD Andress (8-4) - Mississippi State 27-21
Justin Kontul* (7-2) - Wake Forest 24-21
Keylor Piers (8-4; one closest prediction) - Wake Forest 24-20
Ryder Solberg (8-4; one closest prediction) - Wake Forest 38-24
Sean Kennedy (10-2; three closest predictions) -Mississippi State 24-14
*Evan, Ian, and Justin joined our team after the season began.
Do you agree with our picks? Let us know what you think the final score will be.
What's Next for the Demon Deacons?
The Duke's Mayo Bowl will be played on Friday, January 2, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be played at Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, in Charlotte, North Carolina. It can be seen on ESPN.
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Barry is the managing editor/publisher of both the TCU Horned Frogs On SI and Wake Forest Demon Deacons On SI sites. He oversees a team of 15+ writers, photographers, and podcasters covering all sports at both schools. He writes on football, basketball (men’s and women’s), baseball, men’s tennis, and other sports as needed. His weekly articles include ACC Power Rankings and Poll Watching during the football, basketball, and baseball seasons. Barry is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). He has covered the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, the 2023 College Football National Championship, the 2023 College World Series, the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tennis National Championship, Big 12 Football Media Days, and Big 12 Basketball Media Days. He is an avid sports fan and traveler, and he loves any opportunity to see a sporting event in person. He has been to 18 of the 30 MLB ballparks, experienced game day at 25 college football stadiums, seen 21 NFL stadiums, and been to 16 bowl games.