Wake Forest feels Pinstripe Bowl matchup vs. Michigan State football 'as good as it gets'

It’s not the Rose Bowl. Or the College Football Playoff. For Michigan State football fans, a late December trip to the Pinstripe Bowl feels like a letdown. Even coach Mark Dantonio said it is not where the Spartans want to be.

For Wake Forest fans, though, there is plenty of excitement. Even if it means going north, instead of somewhere warm.

This bowl trip has a meaning for the Demon Deacons similar to the Spartans’ 2010 Capital One Bowl berth, bringing a sense of progress and the feeling that the program is on an upswing.

“It’s more than just a football game,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said Sunday. “Our players get to experience something they’ve never experienced before and also play in a historic venue like Yankee Stadium against a traditional power like Michigan State. A lot of positives and it’s a great reward to a good football season.”

MSU (6-6) faces the Demon Deacons (8-4) on Dec. 27 in New York. And when the Spartans arrive for the 3:20 p.m. kickoff, they will find a Wake Forest team that is in its fourth straight postseason game and best bowl since the Orange Bowl after the 2006 season.

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Clawson left Bowling Green in 2014 to take over the Demon Deacons. He began with a pair of 3-9 seasons before going 30-21 the past four seasons. Only Clemson has more wins among Atlantic Coast Conference teams since 2016.

Athletic director John Currie expects to have a large contingent of Wake Forest fans in the Bronx. Currie said about 30% of the school’s students are from the tri-state New York area and New England; alumni have helped subsidize student tickets to grow the Wake Forest crowd.

“There’s gonna be a bunch of black and gold,” Currie said Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. “In some ways, even though coach Clawson has been to three consecutive bowl games as he has rebuilt Wake Forest …, this stage, the biggest stage in the world, is a perfect opportunity to showcase that Wake Forest brand — a top-30 national university and a football program that we believe under coach Clawson’s leadership that is going to continue on a championship path.”

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Dantonio said Clawson “did a great job” at Bowling Green, where the two got to know each other a bit on the recruiting trail. The Spartans missed Clawson’s time at BG (2009-13), playing the Falcons in 2007 and 2017.

In his early scouting of Wake Forest, Dantonio on Monday said he saw an offense that is “doing a lot of unique things” under Clawson. The Demon Deacons’ high-tempo offense ranks 12th in the FBS at 473.4 yards a game and averages 32.8 points per game this season. No team in the country averages more plays than their 83.7 per game, according to teamrankings.com, and they commit the fourth-fewest penalties and have been penalized the third-fewest yards in the nation.

However, Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman is questionable with a right leg injury. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior has completed 62.3% of his passes this season, averaging 244.8 yards per game. He has thrown 23 TD passes to 10 interceptions while running 163 times for 487 yards and six more scores.

Clawson hopes to get back Newman and wide receiver Scotty Washington, who has missed four straight games with an ankle injury. Sage Surratt, who had 1,001 yards and 11 TDs through nine games, won't return, though, after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. Wake Forest also averages 175.7 yards per game on the ground, with Cade Carney (556 yards, five TD) and Kenneth Walker (555 yards, four TDs) joining Newman in a three-headed attack.

The Demon Deacons were in the mix for an Orange Bowl berth and ACC division title until losing three of their final four to close the regular season. The Pinstripe Bowl is their second top-tier ACC bowl game; Clawson led them to wins in the Military, Belk and Birmingham bowls the past three years.

“This is the sphere we hope to be in consistently. And hopefully, occasionally we’re in contention for the Orange Bowl as we were in November,” Clawson said. “Without going to the Orange Bowl, this is as good as it gets.”

Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.