Virginia Tech is headed to Charlotte. The Hokies (8-4, 5-3) were selected for the Belk Bowl on Sunday afternoon, where they’ll face Kentucky (7-5, 3-5) out of the SEC. The Wildcats are headed to their fourth consecutive bowl game under Mark Stoops, while the Hokies are set to make their 27th consecutive bowl appearance, which is the longest active streak in the NCAA.
Kentucky’s SEC victories came over Arkansas (24-20), Missouri (29-7) and Vanderbilt (38-14). Those three teams combined to go 4-20 in conference play this season. However, they closed the season strong by smashing in-state rival Louisville 45-13. The Wildcats’ other victories came against Toledo (38-24), Eastern Michigan (38-17) and Tennessee-Martin (50-7).
Kentucky’s major national rankings are as follows…
Total Offense: No. 80
Total Defense: No. 19
Scoring Offense: No. 85
Scoring Defense: No. 12
In short, they are a team that has been very good on the defensive side of the ball, though they’ve struggled offensively. They are No. 48 nationally in turnovers forced with 18, and No. 67 in turnovers lost, which also stands at 18.
However, Kentucky’s offense changed drastically after the first five games of the season. They moved wide receiver Lynn Bowden to quarterback and ran a run-heavy offense. In their most recent win over Louisville, they threw just two passes while rushing for 517 yards. Over his last two games, Bowden is just 2-of-8 passing, but he’s carried the ball 33 times for 413 yards and six touchdowns. He has over 1,200 rushing yards on the season.
The Wildcats are 5-2 since making that quarterback change, and after Bryce Perkins had success against the Hokies on the ground, Bud Foster could have a difficult matchup on his hands in his final game as Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator.
Virginia Tech defeated Arkansas 35-24 in the 2016 Belk Bowl.
The 2019 Belk Bowl will be held on Tuesday, December 31 in Bank of America Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for noon, and the game will be televised by ESPN.
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This is a good matchup for us: 2nd tier, if not second-best team in the ACC vs. mediocre (7-5) SEC team.
We will play tight man and load the box. Typically run heavy teams can’t run a fast pace so we can substitute
Our D line often keeping them fresh. Great opportunity to improve for next season. GoHokies!
Here comes the Bear D.
Might be able to scheme against them like ND did against VT.
Good luck against a running QB. Our and Bud’s Kryptonite. Watch plenty of film and learn from the Brice Perkins show. Go Hokies!
Not a one dimensional one. One dimensional teams Bud eats for lunch.
They will HAVE to throw to beat us
GT 2018 has entered the conversation.
Brice can throw, this guy not so much
The UVA guy couldn’t throw either until he played us
Wrong, his stats were impressive. He was just a little inconsistent at times but his overall numbers were really good.
Yeah. Those 378 yards and 3 TDs passing Perkins had against UNC were just “fake news”. Threw the ball 39 times. KY QB hasn’t thrown that many total as a college QB. I think we can sell out to stop the run
The amazing part of that wonderful shot putting style of Perkins, he through for more yards than Trevor Lawrence.
Because they were playing from behind massively. That is not an impressive stat. Perkins is way better than the Kentucky QB. With how we rotate DL this yr, we could really benefit playing this style. Not to mention, our 3 worst cover guys are Conner, Floyd and Diablo. All 3 are rather good tacklers and play well in space.
They are not the same type of quarterback. The UVA guy can throw it and apparently the UK guy cannot. So there’s no reason you can’t scheme a little bit better against the UK offense.
Just like Louisville did.
Ouch!
Uhhhh….. have you looked at the UofL defensive stats…. my mom could run on them and she stinks!
Your mother? It’s Christmas!