Virginia Tech Football: Hokies fall to Cincinnati in rainy Military Bowl

This year’s Military Bowl featured a record number of lead changes as Cincinnati and Virginia Tech football dueled in the rain in Annapolis on New Year’s Eve.

Cincinnati was a couple of losses to Temple and UCF away from a perfect season, as they won 10 games in the regular season for the first time since winning the Big East in 2009. Virginia Tech needed a late surge in their final two games just to keep the nation’s longest bowl streak alive. In the rain in Annapolis on New Year’s Eve, the Hokies fell to their Group of Five counterpart in a 35-31 Military Bowl defeat.

The two teams set a new record for lead changes in the Military Bowl, trading the advantage back and forth eight times until Cincinnati seized the advantage for good late in the fourth quarter. Even then, Virginia Tech had a opportunity to take back the lead in the final two minutes. They benefitted from a penalty that overturned a Bearcats interception, but turned right around and threw a pick on the next play to bring the game to a close.

Cincinnati kept themselves in the contest despite losing starting quarterback Desmond Ridder early in the game, as the American Athletic Conference challenger acquitted themselves impressively against their ACC opponent. His loss changed the tenor of the entire contest, and a lot of the storylines to take away from this contest key off the loss of the redshirt freshman.

So what did we learn from a wet Military Bowl on Monday afternoon from Annapolis? Here are three things to take away from Virginia Tech’s late loss to Cincinnati to cap the 2018 season for both teams.