Virginia Tech -10.5 (-110) over Tulane
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- Tulane is missing its starting quarterback for this game, as Michael Pratt has opted out of this matchup.
- Tulane covered the spread in just five of their 13 games this season despite their strong straight up record.
The Military Bowl is a game that has not featured service academies as often as the name would suggest. But that has not stopped it from being an entertaining bowl contest on a regular basis. Here, we take a look back at the history of this bowl game and we break down the upcoming Miltary Bowl before it takes place as a part of this season’s college football bowl schedule.
2023 Military Bowl Analysis
In this year’s Military Bowl, Virginia Tech and Tulane will square off in Annapolis. A major opt-out will have a big impact on this game, as Tulane QB Michael Pratt has opted out of this matchup for the Green Wave. That has put the advantage squarely in the favor of the Virginia Tech Hokies, who are not as drastically impacted by opt-outs and transfers as Tulane.
This is a game where records can be very misleading, as Virginia Tech enters at 6-6 while Tulane comes in at 11-2. But Virginia Tech played a tougher schedule in conference play and comes into this game with some momentum, having won two of their last three games to become bowl-eligible. While Tulane still has plenty of talent, they face an uphill climb against the Hokies.
Military Bowl History
The Military Bowl started out as the EagleBank Bowl, when it was first contested in 2008. After a couple of years, the bowl game was changed to the Military Bowl, which it remains to this day. Service academies have only played in this game a handful of times, as it no longer has tie-ins to service academies other than Navy. The two conferences tied into this game now are the American and ACC, with Navy belonging to the AAC. Below is a list of previous matchups in this bowl game and its previous winners.
| Year | Winners | Runners-Up |
| 2008 | Wake Forest | Navy |
| 2009 | UCLA | Temple |
| 2010 | Maryland | East Carolina |
| 2011 | Toledo | Air Force |
| 2012 | San Jose State | Bowling Green |
| 2013 | Marshall | Maryland |
| 2014 | Virginia Tech | Cincinnati |
| 2015 | Navy | Pittsburgh |
| 2016 | Wake Forest | Temple |
| 2017 | Navy | Virginia |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | Virginia Tech |
| 2019 | North Carolina | Temple |
| 2022 | Duke | UCF |
Bowl Game MVPs
In the Military Bowl, one MVP award is given out each year, unlike many bowl games where offensive and defensive MVPs are given out. Below is the full list of MVPs for this contest, which include some players that earned NFL experience later in their careers, such as Sam Howell who went onto play quarterback for the Washington Commanders.
| Year | MVP | Team |
| 2008 | Riley Skinner | Wake Forest |
| 2009 | Akeem Ayers | UCLA |
| 2010 | Da’Rel Scott | Maryland |
| 2011 | Bernard Reedy | Toledo |
| 2012 | David Fales | San Jose State |
| 2013 | Rakeem Cato | Marshall |
| 2014 | J.C. Coleman | Virginia Tech |
| 2015 | Keenan Reynolds | Navy |
| 2016 | Thomas Brown | Wake Forest |
| 2017 | Zach Abey | Navy |
| 2018 | Mike Warren | Cincinnati |
| 2019 | Sam Howell | North Carolina |
| 2022 | Riley Leonard | Duke |
