Portal:American football/Selected article/May, 2008

The list of Virginia Tech bowl games played since the creation of the Virginia Tech Hokies football team in 1892 consists of 21 post-season bowl games. Included in those 21 games are three Bowl Championship Series game appearances and one appearance in the national championship game. The Hokies have been invited to a bowl game every year since 1993, a 15-year streak that is surpassed only by Michigan (33 games), Florida State (26 games), and Florida (17 games) for active teams. Including historical streaks, Virginia Tech is tied for eighth with Mississippi and Ohio State, who had bowl game streaks during the periods 1957–1971 and 1972–1986, respectively.

Dozens of National Football League draft picks have played for Virginia Tech in bowl games, including two first-overall selections: Bruce Smith and Michael Vick. Smith participated in the 1984 Independence Bowl, while Vick quarterbacked the Hokies to their first national championship appearance during the 2000 Sugar Bowl, and followed that performance by leading the Hokies to the 2001 Gator Bowl, his final collegiate game. Following the game, Vick entered the 2001 NFL draft and was selected by the Atlanta Falcons.

Since 1987, the Virginia Tech football team has been led by head coach Frank Beamer. Since 1993, Beamer has led the Hokies to 15 consecutive bowl games, going 6–9 during that period. Beamer has earned national coach of the year honors several times from various organizations, and has the third-most wins of any active Division I college football coach.

Virginia Tech's first post-season bowl game was in 1947, when the Hokies participated in the 1947 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on New Year's Day against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The latest Virginia Tech bowl game occurred on January 3, 2008, as the Hokies played the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2008 Orange Bowl, a Bowl Championship Series game. A loss in that game brought Virginia Tech to an overall bowl record of seven wins and 14 losses, putting the Hokies in 55th place in all-time bowl-game winning percentage. The Hokies' 21 bowl appearances are the 37th-highest total in NCAA history.

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