The Virginia Tech Hokies Win the Military Bowl 33-17 Over Cincinnati

By Tim Thomas | Dec 27, 2014

Dec 27, 2014; Annapolis, MD, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies associate head coach Shane Beamer holds the Champions Trophy while standing with Hokies

The Virginia Tech Hokies entered the Military Bowl hoping to avoid its first losing season since 1992, but were slated on paper to have a fairly tough matchup with the Cincinnati Bearcats of the AAC. Virginia Tech also wanted to win this game to get some momentum going into the offseason especially with the numerous talented young players Virginia Tech has on its roster.

The Hokies definitely got the job done, and should have plenty of momentum going into the offseason.

In what was one of their best games of the season, the Virginia Tech Hokies beat the Cincinnati Bearcats 33-17 to win the 2014 Military Bowl. This game was a tale of two halves with the Hokies leading by only 3 over Cincinnati at 13-10 before dominating the second half on their way to a 33-17 victory.

Virginia Tech started off the game in a fairly good way with Kendall Fuller having his second interception of the season off a Gunner Kiel pass. Kiel threw two interceptions on the afternoon with Chuck Clark making a very good play to get the second interception. Kiel and the Bearcats opened the scoring with a touchdown pass.

The Hokies marched down the field right after that to tie the game up at 7 on a drive that included a 30-yard pass from Isaiah Ford to Michael Brewer. Virginia Tech seemed to gain some control of the game after getting a 10-7 lead from a Joey Slye 45-yard field goal, but Cincinnati tied it up at 10-10 with a field goal wtih less than a minute left in the first half.

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However, momentum seemed to swing on the two moments following the field goal. First, Enter Sandman started playing which was surprising, but definitely fired the pro-Hokie crowd up. Then, Der’Woun Greene had a kick return to near midfield which set up a quick drive before Joey Slye made a 49-yard field goal to give the Hokies the lead at halftime 13-10.

Then, the Hokies came out in the second half, and drove the ball straight down the field for a Michael Brewer touchdown pass to Ryan Malleck. This drive was definitely one of the best the Hokies have had all season, and was probably the best Brewer played all afternoon.

Then, Deon Clarke got a huge sack on Gunner Kiel that ended up giving Kiel a concussion with the sophomore quarterback fumbling the football during the play as well. That fumble was recovered by Nigel Williams who ran it back to the 11 before fumbling it. Greg Stroman recovered the second fumble, and ran it back into the endzone to help give the Hokies a 27-10 lead early in the third quarter.

Joey Slye extended the lead to 20 in the fourth quarter with a 38-yard field goal, but Cincinnati had a 43-yard pass from Michael Colosimo to Chris Moore to make it a 30-17 game. However, Slye added a fourth field goal from 33 to make it the final score 33-17.

Dec 27, 2014; Annapolis, MD, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies running back J.C. Coleman (4) holds the MVP trophy after the Hokies

The Virginia Tech offense improved a lot in the second half largely due to how the Hokies dominated the trenches which allowed J.C. Coleman the space he needed to make some big plays on the ground. Coleman had the best game of his career with 25 carries for 157 rushing yards and 1 touchdown in what was a great boost for an offense that wasn’t great due to some bad throws from Michael Brewer.

Brewer did not play well in this game even though the play calling by Scot Loeffler was probably the best it has been in a while if ever in his two years at Virginia Tech. Coleman made up for Brewer’s struggles and absolutely deserved to be named the MVP of the game.

Deon Clarke was all over the field in the game, and had his best game since Virginia Tech beat Ohio State with the redshirt junior linebacker having 11 tackles, 1 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Dadi Nicolas also had a strong game with 9 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 QB hurry though this wasn’t Nicolas’s best game.

Cincinnati did a great job of making sure their offensive tackles prevented Virginia Tech’s defensive ends from cutting inside on their blitzes in this game. Meanwhile, Cincinnati took advantage of the speed of Corey Moore against Donovan Riley while Detrick Bonner did not do a very good job of giving safety help which made Riley not look as good on a few plays.

Shane Beamer did a great job of leading this team in the preparations before this game, and it showed on the field. Shane Beamer seems like he has the potential to be a good head coach though I don’t think he would be the right guy to replace his father Frank Beamer. However, he definitely deserved the Gatorade shower he received at the end of the game.

Overall, this was a great victory for the Hokies as they end their season with tons of momentum heading into the offseason. More importantly, Virginia Tech has still not had a losing season since 1992.

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