ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It rained at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium from before the opening kickoff until well after the Military Bowl ended.
The short-handed Tulane football team started drowning midway through the third quarter.
With quarterback Kyron Drones running at will on a wet field, Virginia Tech erupted for 24 points in a span of four possessions, breaking a 17-17 tie and winning 41-20 on Wednesday afternoon. Tulane, which arrived in Annapolis without record-setting quarterback Michael Pratt plus three key defensive players, lost leading tackler Jesus Machado to a knee injury in the first quarter and wore down dramatically as Drones kept testing its tired legs.
Drones finished with 176 yards on 20 carries, including a 51-yard scramble in the third quarter that opened the floodgates and helped the Hokies go ahead for good. Bhayshul Tuten added 136 yards on 18 attempts, becoming the first running back to surpass 100 yards against the Green Wave in a 35-game stretch dating to its 2021 American Athletic Conference opener against East Carolina.
Tulane (11-3) watched its chance to finish ranked in back-to-back years for the first time in school history get washed away, while Virginia Tech (7-6) continued its surge under second-year coach Brent Pry with its sixth win in its last nine games.
“Obviously it was not the outcome we were looking for,” said Tulane interim coach Slade Nagle, who took over after Willie Fritz left for Houston the day after the AAC championship game. “But you’ve got to give these guys a lot of credit. They held it together and fought.”
Until the onslaught, Tulane hung right with the Hokies. Quarterback Kai Horton, starting for the third time this season, spiked the ball in celebration after avoiding a sack and beating defenders to the corner for a 6-yard touchdown that tied it at 17 with 12:52 left in the third quarter. That score came three plays after rush end Devean Deal forced a fumble and teammate Tahir Annoor recovered it at the Virginia Tech 17.
But Drones’ long sprint changed the momentum for good.
Tuten scored untouched on a pitch from 9 yards out on the next play. Tulane went three-and-out, and Tuten raced 44 yards on the first play after a punt, setting up a field goal for a 27-17 lead.
Tulane closed the gap to 27-20 with Valentino Ambrosio’s 20-yard field goal to open the fourth quarter, but Drones kept for 38 yards on the first play after the kickoff, setting up his 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Stephen Goznell. That gain increased Virginia Tech’s season total of 30-yard rushes or more to an FBS-leading 16 as Tulane’s biggest strength — run defense — fell apart.
“I don’t think there was anything particular as to here’s the answer for everything for what they were doing,” Tulane linebacker Tyler Grubbs said. “It was a lot of things. We weren’t fitting our gaps right, and it exposed our defense a little bit.”
Grubbs took advantage of the weather on Virginia Tech’s opening series, picking up the ball on a blitz when Drones fumbled untouched and running 21 yards for a touchdown to give the Wave a quick 7-0 lead. It was eerily reminiscent to Deal’s strip-sack and fumble return to the SMU 1 on the first play of the AAC championship game.
Unfortunately for Tulane, the rest of the Military Bowl played out in a similar fashion to that 26-14 defeat to the Mustangs. A muffed punt by Dontae Fleming handed the ball to the Hokies at the Wave 11 in the first quarter, setting up Drones’ go-ahead touchdown on a play that was reviewed but not overturned when linebacker Jared Small stripped him either right before or right after the ball reached the goal line.
Horton then fumbled on first and goal from the 1 when defensive tackle Pheldarius Payne hit him before he could hand off to running back Mahki Hughes. The Wave tied it at 10 on Ambrosio’s 49-yard field goal, but the Hokies moved 75 yards in 11 plays to go ahead 17-10 with eight seconds left in the half.
“We couldn’t make the plays,” Nagle said. “There were some plays we didn’t make in the first half that would have made things a little bit different going into the third quarter.”
Horton finished 13-of-20 passing for 119 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions for Tulane. Hughes ran 15 times for 88 yards, and Yulkeith Brown was the top receiver with five catches for 63 yards.