SB Nation Projects Cincinnati to Play Virginia Tech in Military Bowl

Cincinnati has just two games left on its 2014 football schedule, so it’s nigh time that we begin to monitor where the Bearcats may be heading this winter as college football’s bowl season approaches. There is still much to be determined within the AAC as Memphis, Cincinnati and UCF all have one conference loss, and ECU and Houston have two apiece. All five of those teams are currently bowl eligible, and some jockeying for bids is sure to occur as we near the finish line.

The good folks at SB Nation have been tracking and attempting to predict the 2014 college football playoff match-ups, as well as who will play in the other 36 bowl games. As it stands now, SB Nation believes the Bearcats will face a familiar foe in recent times, the Virginia Tech Hokies, in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD, on December 27.

Cincinnati is 5-5 all-time against Virginia Tech, and won the last meeting between the two in the 2012 regular season by a score of 27-24 at a neutral site. The teams also recently met in the 2006 regular season, a 29-13 road loss for the Bearcats, and in the Orange Bowl in 2008, a 20-7 loss for the Bearcats in a BCS game they were the favorite to win.

While Virginia Tech is a football program with loads of name value, this 2014 team is not necessarily one that Cincinnati fans need to fear. I honestly have no concrete explanation for or opinion of the Hokies this year as they went on the road and beat an Ohio State team currently ranked No. 7 in the country, but just lost 6-3 in double overtime to Wake Forest in a game that was tied at zero at the end of regulation.

In case you weren’t aware, Wake Forest is one of the worst teams in the FBS this year as the Demon Deacons had only defeated Gardner-Webb and Army until knocking off Virginia Tech for their first ACC win.

These two teams do have two common opponents this season in Ohio State and Miami (FL). Cincinnati played both of those games on the road and lost to the Buckeyes, 50-28, and the Hurricanes, 55-34, while Virginia Tech beat OSU on the road, 35-21, and lost to “the U” at home, 30-6. I’m not sure exactly what could be gleaned from those results, however, considering the Bearcats’ defense was historically bad in both games, and that the Hokies beat the Buckeyes when they were their most vulnerable, having just played Navy the week before and with J.T. Barrett still learning in only his second game since high school.

As for how the Bearcats and Hokies would match up, here’s a quick look at a few key stats and rankings for the two thus far this year:

I realize those are pretty broad statistics but I do believe they tell the story of this potential game as it would be a match-up of Cincinnati’s top-flight offense against Virginia Tech’s premier defense.

If I had to pick this game right now I would definitely go with the Bearcats, and I think they would win by at least a touchdown. The fact of the matter is that more often than not in football these days good offense beats good defense given how the games are officiated. Plus, while Cincinnati’s defense has struggled enough to earn the nickname “the Bad News Bearcats” from its own head coach, the Virginia Tech offense looks like it’s playing defense against itself half the time. I wouldn’t trust the Hokies to be capable of scoring enough to win.

While all this conjecture is good fun, it should be noted that Virginia Tech is not bowl eligible yet, and will need to beat its in-state rival, Virginia, to get to the magic six-win mark. This will be no easy task by the way, as the Cavaliers are also sitting on five wins and looking for a bowl bid of their own, and are coming off a big win at home over Miami (FL).