Military Bowl: Virginia Tech Overcomes Heavy Rain To Beat Tulane 41-20

Under the direction of interim head coach Slade Nagle, the Tulane Green Wave tried to put a cap on their remarkable two-year run under Wille Fritz's staff with another bowl win against a Power Five team. However, Brent Pry and the Virginia Tech Hokies had other plans. 

The Hokies beat the Green Wave in Wednesday's Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland by a score of 41-20. It's the Hokies' first bowl win under Pry and their first as a program since 2016. 

Tulane finish the season 11-3 and bring their overall record in bowl games to 7-9. 

Tyler Grubbs' Scoop-And-Score

Most of the afternoon in Annapolis was characterized by a light, to moderate, to heavy rain that made conditions on the field and in other parts of the stadium rather sloppy. As a result, the ball was rather hard to hang on to for both sides. Both reams fumbled the ball twice in the first half. At the end of the day Tulane turned the ball over three times and the Hokies turned the ball over twice.

Perhaps the most notable fumble of the first half came when Tulane linebacker Tyler Grubbs stripped VT quarterback Kyron Drones and returned it for a 21-yard touchdown. 

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Tulane Turns To Younger Playmakers

With regular starting quarterback Michael Pratt not playing in the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft, a handful of Tulane's younger, but familiar playmakers had to step up.

Over the last two years, Kai Horton has stepped up in multiple big games for the Green Wave. He had another opportunity for Tulane on Wednesday. Horton split reps with Justin Ibieta at quarterback, until Ibieta was carted off with an apparent lower body injury. Horton finished with 13 completions on 20 attempts for 119 attempts. He also rushed for 21 yards and a touchdown.

Horton remains in the transfer portal with his 2024 destination not yet announced.

Freshman running back Makhi Hughes also rushed for 88 yards on 15 attempts.

Kyron Drones Leads Virginia Tech's Stellar Run Game

Arguably the biggest contributor factor to Virginia Tech's win over Tulane was the success of the run game through the slog that the weather created. The Hokies finished with 362 yards on the ground, a season high. 

Quarterback Kyron Drones finished as the team's leading rusher with 176 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Drones had eight runs of at least ten yards in the game, including a 51-yard run in the third quarter that put the Hokies on Tulane's nine-yard line. Drones also managed to throw for 91 yards and two touchdowns. 

Junior running back Bhayshul Tuten also carried 18 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns.