Virginia Tech wins 2014 Military Bowl vs. Cincinnati

In the nine previous years of F/+ rankings, the highest-ranked team with a losing record has often seen a significant bump the next year. In 2006, Tennessee went from 5-6 and 24th in the F/+ rankings to 9-4 and 10th. In 2010, Clemson went from 6-7 to 10-4. And in 2014, Utah went from 5-7 to 9-4. A couple of others (Alabama in 2007, Pitt in 2013) saw at least small bumps in the win-loss record.

That’s the good news. The bad news: four other teams saw the bottom drop out. UCLA fell from 6-7 and 24th in 2007 to 4-8 and 85th in 2008. In 2009, Illinois fell from 5-7 and 43rd to 3-9 and 92nd. In 2010, Wake Forest fell from 5-7 and 43rd to 3-9 and 103rd. And in 2012, USF fell from 5-7 and 35th to 3-9 and 73rd.

Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer celebrated his team’s bowl win with some dance moves. In case you missed his previous works, here’s some more of Beamer’s greatest dancing hits. Want more? Here you go. Is that all? No. Is that all? No:

The dancing is even more impressive when you consider that Beamer had minor throat surgery earlier this month.

Virginia Tech handled Cincinnati in a wild Military Bowl Saturday, beating the Bearcats 33-17. The game saw four turnovers and seven different quarterbacks between the two teams -- just the kind of game Frank Beamer’s Hokies thrive in.

Cincinnati’s vertical offense tested Virginia Tech early, but the Hokies’ strong secondary was able to handle the aerial attack. The Bearcats missed two early opportunities, coming away with no points. Their first play from scrimmage went 40 yards, but four plays later Andrew Gantz missed a 51-yard field goal. Cincinnati’s next drive brought them deep into Virginia Tech territory, but Gunner Kiel’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Kendall Fuller.

Coming into Saturday, the best touchdown of bowl season had already been settled. Central Michigan’s hook-and-lateral hail mary to bring them within a failed conversion attempt of tying the Bahamas Bowl.

Virginia Tech nearly matched it in the Military Bowl against Cincinnati, completing the rare “multi-person touchdown including a lineman.”

The presidents were out here trying to race in Annapolis, and the Cincinnati mascot was not having it:

(via ESPN)

Chris Moore scored a touchdown. Chris Moore did this (via ESPN):

Cincinnati was assessed a penalty on kickoff for this. But for what?

This will be the second year that the Military Bowl will take place in Annapolis. The game is now played at Navy’s stadium after five years at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati will face Virginia Tech Saturday afternoon in this year’s iteration.

Cincinnati started the season 2-3 after consecutive losses to Ohio State, Memphis and Miami, putting an early damper on high expectations for Tommy Tuberville’s second year in charge. The Bearcats followed that up by simply running the table on the rest of their schedule, earning a share of the AAC title. Cincinnati recorded wins over East Carolina, Temple and Houston en route to their 7-1 conference mark.

Who wins: movable force or resistible object?

Any game involving Cincinnati (25th in Off. F/+, 88th in Def. F/+) can become a shootout. Any game involving Virginia Tech (91st in Off. F/+, fourth in Def. F/+) can become a defensive slog. Cincinnati won games by scores of 58-34, 54-46, and 38-31. Virginia Tech lost games by scores of 21-16 and 6-3.

The Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman hasn’t been around for long, dating back to 2008 when it was known as the EagleBank Bowl. This year’s game will be the second to be held near the U.S. Naval Academy campus after originally being played at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., in its first five years of existence. It seems like a smart move since attendance has topped 30,000 just twice, and both of those games featured Maryland as one of the participants.

This year, the participants will be Cincinnati and Virginia Tech.