Virginia Tech needed wins over rival Virginia and last-minute Marshall to secure its 26th straight bowl appearance. The reward for the Hokies is a Military Bowl matchup against Cincinnati on December 31.
🚨IT'S OFFICIAL🚨@VT_Football & @GoBearcatsFB will kickoff the New Year at the 2018 #MilitaryBowl presented by @northropgrumman benefiting @USOMetroDC‼️📰 https://t.co/UH0ndbxeRX🎟https://t.co/kNRMX50Y7n pic.twitter.com/0x6o0ORakn— Military Bowl (@MilitaryBowl) December 2, 2018
Last time the Hokies missed a bowl was 1992. Same year as:➖The "Dream Team" led by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird & Magic Johnson played in the Olympics.➖Faxing was the predominant method of electronic communications.➖Sharkey's & El Rod's opened in Blacksburg.#GoHokies pic.twitter.com/6nKMS6kV4w— Mark Diethorn (@MarkDHokies) December 2, 2018
For those with short memories, it's a rematch of the 2014 Military Bowl which the Hokies won 33-17. It's the 12th meeting all-time between Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. The Hokies hold a 6-5 advantage.
Even after a 10-win campaign, Cincinnati (10-2) finished outside the top-25 in major polls. The Bearcats rank No. 32 in S&P. The Hokies rank No. 69.
Comments
Beat the Bearcats! Let's Go....!!!
Hokies!
Went to this game last time with my dad and the good guys won. Bought tickets through Cincinnati and still ended up surrounded by Hokies.
Might have to have an encore viewing.
We also got Cincinnati tickets and had a blast at that 2013 matchup. There were some Bearcats around us but they were all really nice and tolerated our cheers.
it's deja vu all over again
I just got 2 tickets on the VT side, 30 yard line, 6 rows up. Me and LancerHokie will be there!
Which side is VT sideline?
The Military Bowl website said the Blue sideline is reserved for the ACC team.
50 yard line row 3 (some how there are 10 rows in front even though ticket says row 3)
I got row -7
Nice, though I don't understand the use of negative rows
I was just joking
Last time we played that game, a short RB from Chesapeake rushed for 157 and a score and won MVP.
Could history repeat itself?
Not just from the same town, but the same school!
This just gets better and better.
Great location for alumni, was really hoping for a different opponent though. At least we're bowling!
Is Munchie Legaux playing?
Also the name of the pot dispensary in Baton Rouge.
I rewatched our 2014 game against Cincy in this same bowl recently while looking for differences in run blocking from how we run block now. You might remember 14 was the season that JC Coleman absolutely balled out over the last 4-5 games of the season. It's a little disappointing to have a bowl game repeat only 4 years apart but it should be a fun game to watch.
Just wait until Bama v Clemson part 3 in a month..so stoked about that
EDIT: I meant in the championship game
*part 4
As much as I really dislike ND, a guy at my office is one of those cocky rub-it-in-your-face Clemson fans so I'll be pulling for the Irish.
More money for the ACC if Clemson wins.
Actually no. All 4 playoff participants get paid the same, regardless of results. The only extra money paid goes directly to the school to cover travel expenses.
I thought that described every Clemson fan!
Wouldn't it be nice to see both falter and not make it?! ... not that I'm rooting for ND!
Nice, 45 minute drive. May need to take this one in
Your wife owes you, for that ODU embarrassment.
Yep, just gonna have to not take her as she will insist on wearing butterfly stuff. Also gonna have to be sick since I am supposed to work...
You're a Navy Combat Veteran. You shouldn't need any excuse to attend the Military Bowl in Annapolis.
Thank god it's not Memphis
I was glad too. The zingers write themselves if Fuente loses to them
Oh, I don 't know... I kind of like the intrigue of the prodigal son, and the possibility of a 100+ point shootout. Memphis absolutely does not play defense. (East Carolina scored 41 pts on the this year.) The Tulsa bowl game was pretty fun to watch a few years back.
Cincinnati does play defense. This game will be a 23-17 sleeper.
I don't believe this would be a fun game. "Shootout" and "VT" just don't go together this year as we don't have the offense to keep up, regardless of their defense. I think we would get steam-rolled by Memphis.
Conversely, I like our odds in a game that stays below 30 points. I feel like this team has the heart to pull out a close game.
I just don't think so. Using the notorious transitive property, Memphis lost to Tulane. Wake Forest beat Tulane in New Orleans with a brand new QB. You think the Hokies would get steamrolled by Wake or Tulane? Memphis scores a lot of points against inferior competition.
Geezus, I can't believe I'm defending the point that the Hokies wouldn't get steamrolled by Memphis. There's a lot of broken down buck-A-roos in this stable.
May this game turn out like it did for us in 2014... LETS GOOOOOO
HOKIES!
The Hokies rank number 69
Niiiiiice
Nice.
Nice.
To (mis)quote Inigo Montoya, "I Do Not Think It (Always) Means What You Think It Means."
This makes me really sad actually
Meh. 69th out of 130 is almost exactly middle-of-the-road. And if middle-of-the-road is the floor for this program, I'll take it.
Next year should be a lot better.
the road is the floor™
I thought the floor was lava
Therefore the road is lava
As echoed above, thank God it isn't Memphis. Wake drew them and that will be a blowout.
Are we Blue or are we Gold?
Blue
Are you my Blue Daddy or my Gold Daddy?
Some see blue, some see gold. But if you change the contrast and brightness, you can get it to be all blue. #Science
For references:
Jokes on you - I still see White and Gold in the first one.
And you're still wrong.
No, he's not
Yes, he is.
Thank you.
Everyone told me I was crazy when I said the dress was blue and gold. They laughed dismissively and then went back to arguing with their colorblind counterparts. Everybody in the world arguing with each other about whether it's white and gold or blue and black. Meanwhile I'm sitting here questioning reality because I can see clear as day that dress is Carolina blue and puke gold.
Yeah, except the actual dress is navy blue and black. The weird coloring is the result of lighting conditions and camera settings.
It doesn't matter what color the actual dress was, since none of us saw the actual dress. We were all looking at a photo of the dress online.
Very disappointed that the committee didn't give us more consideration for the No. 4 spot in the College Football Playoff; however, I can also understand the other side of the argument.
GO HOKIES!
Number 4 is an insult. If it isn't #1 I'd rather just drive to Annapolis.
Time to continue our winning season streak!
Considering how few players are seniors, I wonder how many players are left over from that game?
I'll take a gander that Chung was but after that no idea.
Sidenote: I tailgated too hard for this game in 2014 and never actually made it into the stadium lol
Chung, Pfaff, Mihota, Walker.
(Sauce: TSL's historical section)
Hopefully we'll see more of this.
That was such a fun play to watch.
If memory serves, we drilled one of their WR's so hard that when he got back to the LOS and tried to talk smack to DBU he had to stop and throw up. To his credit he resumed smack talk when he finished but was pulled from the game.
Ha, I scared the lady next to me in the stands when I went "Yesss...NOOOOOO...YEEEEEESSSSSS"
Interestingly enough, the last time we played Cincy in the military bowl, we lost to the same 4 acc teams. We lost to GT, Pitt, Miami and BC in 2014 as well.....
Did we beat UVA?
Ummm...we've won 15 straight so....
Do the math. 😁
I like how this is my most legged comment, even over all the well qualified women gifs
Dammit. PTO resets the next day.
Looks like a great day to take an unpaid day off!
It's New Year's Eve.....nobody is getting any work done anyway!
I forgot some people don't get NYE off :(
Mostly people that the rest of us take for granted.
Hopefully we can manage an offensive TD unlike the last ACC rep at this bowl.
Best part is, GT fans are livid that we got a better bowl than they did.
Suck it knee choppers.
Travel better then. Anyone who acts like bowls outside of the NY6 are primarily merit based is kidding themselves.
Also this is not much travel for a lot of fans. It's my first bowl game in years because of location and timing.
I believe Fencer was telling GT fans to travel better, and if they did they might not get jumped by teams that travel better (VT) during bowl selection.
That's a bingo.
You just say bingo
They thought they were engaged with another bowl and the Quick Lane blindsided them low.
Military Bowl! All participants get an AR-15! Awesome!
Dang, I was hoping for an A10 Warthog
brrrrrt
Would you settle for an Apache Helicopter?
It's the only thing more powerful than a child's wish!
If it's gotta be rotary, then gimme a flight of DAPs.
God I loved that plane when I was young.
I had book after book after book of fighter jets but the A10 always had my heart, for reasons I could never understand.
I think it's the giant-gatling-gun-with-wings part that is so appealing
I was a frosh at USAFA when the the 1st Warthogs were being delivered. F15 &F16 were newly minted at that time too. Big debate among guys who would eventually fly them as to which was better. Fir me, the fact that the Warthog could fly so slow that they practically hovered was amazing (or as close to hovering as a modern fixed wing jet can go). That Gatling becomes even more lethal when you can slow down and really pound the target.
Did anyone ask the ground-pounders which they preferred to see overhead?
LOL, I have the distinct feeling that the ground-pounders' response would depend on whether they were facing fire from tanks, etc or being dealing with strafed by jets.
Why would the Air Force care about something silly like that?
All great aircraft. The Zoomies started building their warplanes specifically for Air Superiority or CAS, and the results speak for themselves.
The previous generation (i.e. F-4s and F-105s) were very fast, but weren't ideal for dogfighting.
Damnit was really hoping for Tampa. I know all y'all NOVA/DC/MD people love this but I'm not you.
I remember the days when we were tired of going to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl...
I remember the days when we'd bitch about going to the Orange Bowl. AGAIN.
And the peach bowl.....
I will never bitch about the peach bowl, it's a great event that hands out free chickfila. Mmmm free cookies and cream milkshakes.
I miss those days when we ruled the ACC.
It didn't help that the ACC championship was in Jacksonville for two years and double dipped with Jacksonville in the 2005 season.
As for the other bowls mentioned in this thread, my frustration with our Orange Bowl appearances was more about the opponents we played. Kansas and Cincinnati were the least desirable opponents possible in those years. Stanford was an extremely good team and program but doesn't have the history or fan support to make them a marquee match up.
I've never gotten the sense that anyone especially disliked the Peach Bowl. We have games in Atlanta every other year because of GT and played a few Chick-Fil-A kickoff games, which could contribute to bowl location fatigue. 2009 was especially bad as we tripled dipped in Atlanta with the Chick-Fil-A kickoff game, @ GT, and the Peach Bowl. The match up against Tennessee and Lane Kiffin was still one that most fans were excited about and in a typical season I'd say the majority of fans like the Peach Bowl.
The way the BCS was set up, the Orange Bowl seemed to get the short stick for opponents most years. It seemed like we kept missing some of the better options due to selection order, like a bowl meeting with WVU.
In 2007, the Orange Bowl picked Kansas over WVU due to Pitt's spanking of the cousins at the end of the season. Apparently, there was also a deal in the works to put Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl against us, but that fell through. (Okay, it looks like the Orange Bowl brought this one on themselves.)
In 2008, we got matched up against Cincinnati since the Orange Bowl had last pick.
In 2010, OB had second pick, but Ohio State had already gone to Sugar Bowl. Orange was left with Stanford or UConn. Not really a hard choice for the bowl to make.
Imagine being a bowl committee trying to decide whether to invite WVU. Yes, you want to sell tickets, but do you want thousands of WVU fans to descend on your city?
Also I'm tired of Cincinnati
Love it...we have a good record against cincy in bowls
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Loaded!
Edit: Embed instead of link
Question: WHY does the presenter in this pic not looking very happy?? He's not showing enough (any) enthusiasm for my taste.
That's the "I thought I was gonna get to meet Frank, this isn't the Beamer I ordered" face
Let's be honest, the rep really wanted to meet Hank.
Who doesn't?
Shane poked him with the boxing glove on a stick drill before the trophy ceremony to ensure he wouldn't fumble it during the big moment
THIS 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼should go plaid.
If he was showing enough enthusiasm we'd have people wanting to make him head coach on the spot.
The defense better put their big boy pants on. Cinncy has a very good running game. And their defense is pretty stout also.
Hopefully their QB isn't very accurate
The Bearcats rank No. 32 in S&P. The Hokies rank No. 69.
Marshall was 37, before Saturday. They are 49 now. Time to do the same to Cincy's S&P.
Cincinnati opening at -7.5
'I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you that you were terrible. Everybody told you that you didn't have a chance to win the first game, and all you did was work your tails off. "
FSU, Duke and UVA. Three of Virginia Techs best 4 games this year came when they were underdogs. VT played pretty well against Notre Dame also, especially in the first half.
VT played poorly in most of the games where they were the favorite this year. The only exceptions were W&M and Marshall.
Last year's Military Bowl was a 49-7 Navy beat down of UVA.
I will watch that game's replay to warm the cockles of my heart while I'm in the stands at our game this year.
After the first play (UVa returns the opening kickoff for a score) it gets downright hilarious
the best part is how all their fans thought that would set the tone of the game. whew boy were they hilariously wrong.
It kinda did, the tone that Navy would be kicking off a lot.
OT: man that's a good looking helmet for us. Not matte. Not chrome. Not sparkle flakes metallic. I would really like to see those for real.
Bud Foster on the post game press interview with Burnop said something that I haven't found an easy way to validate:
Foster mentioned extending the bowl streak was great, but now extending the most consecutive winning seasons is what they were turning their attention to. Does anyone have a link that validates this?
To make a bowl game you have to have a winning season. During the bowl streak we have never finished with a losing season. We have the longest bowl streak. Therefore, we have the longest winning season streak.
To make a bowl game you have to get 6 wins (sometimes 5). You can be 6-7 (or 5-8) after the bowls. He was saying he's proud of the winning season streak.
This. In the years we made bowls at 6-6, we also won those bowl games. Our bowk streak and winning seasons streaks go back to the same year.
4VPISU was asking for a link to validate Buds claim. I provided the logic to explain how it is true. All you have to do is verify our final records during the streak which shows we have always finished with a winning record. No other team can claim 25 years straight if winning seasons.
FSU's was 41, which ended this year. The longest ever is Penn State at 49 consecutive years, ending in 1988.
https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-football-fsu-noles/2017/12/...
How do we all not know this already!?!?
ESPN already predicting Cincinnati wins big
30-17 predicted win for the Bearcats
That's a hot take.
The ESPN guy also opened his article with, "Here's my bowl picks, but the first thing you guys should know is that I suck at this."
Not that I can blame him, but I think he just isn't an ACC fan this year. The only two ACC teams he picked to win were Wake and Georgia Tech (other than Clemson over ND). I think the ACC, and VT, prove him wrong.
I'm actually happy they think we can score 17. Obviously zero in the 3rd quarter. Think our D will hold them to 14. 17-14 Hokies.
My wife suggested I go to this bowl game. We haven't been to a bowl since the Natty Sugar Bowl, so it was a surprise. Trying to drum up some of my old Hokie friends for the trip. Since I was born on the Academy but haven't been back since I was a little boy, it would be a chance to see Annapolis as an adult, pay homage to my father who taught there for a few years, and close the loop, somewhat. Might not pull it off, but after this season, I may deserve it.
The way I see it, If your wife's suggesting you go, you go. You take the opportunities you're given!
Oh, I agree. When the CFO makes such a suggestion, who would I be to ignore it?
Absolutely! When my wife suggested last week that we should go to the Marshall game, I had tickets, hotel room, and parking pass purchased within about 10 minutes. Actually, I had already booked the hotel room......just in case......
My last bowl game was the Sugar Bowl natty as well. Friends are trying hard to get us to go this year. Wife's dad is a Navy grad and my dad lives about 20 minutes from Annapolis, so it might just happen. If I can just convince her that it won't be 30 degrees and raining on December 31.
I think it is highly unlikely to be 30 degrees and raining. 30 degrees and snowing, well. . .
It's the Mid-Atlantic. Could be 25 and raining. Or 40 and snowing. Never can predict...
25 and raining first quarter, 40 and snowing second quarter, 72 and sunny 3rd quarter, 18 and as windy as Chicago in the 4th
These reasons and more are why she suggested a guy trip. I'm not going by myself, so I'm waiting on the old buds to decide if they're going or not.
To counterpoint, why is your wife trying to get you to go. Not trying to plant the seeds of insecurity or anything....
For comparison's sake, Marshall was ranked 37 last week and Virginia Tech was 81.
MIchael Warren is their star running back and has a pretty solid year with a bunch of 100+ yard games. They also have a slew of other rushers that look like they can contribute.
Knox certainly contributed last weekend, but we still managed to blow out Marshall. Color me optimistic.
Good thing Foster's defensive success is built on stopping the run. Oh, wait......
That's what I'm worried about. They have 4 guys who contribute significantly in the running game one of which has 19 TD's and over 1000 yds and averaging 6 yards a carry.
Interesting side note - Since we joined the ACC in 2004, we've played Cincinnati the same number of times (5) that we've played fellow conference members NC State and Wake Forest.
Stupid question. Why are all the upper deck seats not on sale? Is that by design or sold out?
guessing they are on hold to be sold through the respective schools.
This.
Sorry if this was posted or mentioned already... Didn't see any embedded tweet...
Do we know how much the tickets are through VT?
Sales started at noon. $60
Yeah, I checked back and ended up buying directly from the bowl site to get lower level tickets for about $10 more each.