Wake Forest football got huge break with Rutgers matchup in Gator Bowl

Due to the Texas A&M Aggies having to give up their bid to the Gator Bowl out of COVID-19 concerns, Wake Forest football just got a huge break.

For the most part, the 2021 season has not been hindered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic too severely. However, it’s never too late for said hindering to commence, right?

The other day, news broke across the college football landscape that No. 25 Texas A&M was backing out of its bid to the Gator Bowl. The reasoning for doing so was, of course, a COVID-19 outbreak within the program.

This unfortunate circumstance not only concluded A&M’s season with a bummer but also put No. 17 Wake Forest football (the Aggies’ scheduled Gator Bowl opponent) at risk for the same fate.

At 8-4, the Aggies being ripped out of a ranked bowl matchup is far from good news. But for Wake Forest, the idea of such an occurrence was much worse.

The Demon Deacons are set to enter the Gator Bowl on the morning of New Year’s Eve, donning a record of 10-3. With a win, they would tie their greatest record ever — seen only once before (2006).

In other words, this current Deacs squad could quite possibly be considered the greatest of all time; taking away their opportunity to officialize that for a reason entirely unrelated to them just wouldn’t be right.

Luckily, there was a way to stop the key from turning without having to bank on another bowl game being broken up: Wake Forest could play the “best” available team that was originally not bowl-eligible.

In this case, that team turned out to be the 5-7 Rutgers Scarlet Knights of the Big Ten. Despite it initially being reported that they had declined the offer, their participation went on to be confirmed. And it is safe to say that this turn of events, regardless of its undesired introduction, helped the Deacs out a ton.

No offense to Rutgers, but most names would prefer to play them than that one ranked team that previously gained recognition for downing the nation’s best, and Wake is no exception.

With this new foe, the Demon Deacons are all the more likely to finish the year with a victory and enter 2022 coming off of an 11-win showing. Not only that, but the Scarlet Knights are a less familiar opponent to Wake Forest than Texas A&M was.

In my opinion, bowl games are opportunities for fans to watch their teams battle new faces, and that would not have been possible with A&M.

For reference, the Aggies met the Deacs in the 2017 Belk Bowl. As for Rutgers, it hasn’t played Wake Forest in over 20 years. With that said, one definitely sits fresher in Wake’s mind than the other.

The Deacs are currently a 13.5-point favorite for the affair, per WynnBET, but I doubt Rutgers fans mind as this will be their first bowl appearance of any kind in seven years.