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The Virginia Tech football team won't be travelling far to play in its 24th straight bowl game. The 19th-ranked Hokies went 9-4, won the ACC's Coastal Division championship and took No. 2 Clemson down to the wire in Saturday night's ACC title game. Their reward is a trip to Charlotte to play Arkansas in the Belk Bowl.
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The Hokies and Razorbacks (7-5) will face off Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium. The game will be televised by ESPN.
It'll be the first appearance for either team in the Belk Bowl. That's more remarkable for the Hokies, whose campus is less than a three-hour drive from downtown Charlotte.
Tech fans travel well, particularly when road games are in North Carolina -- they came out in droves for games at UNC and Duke this season -- so a strong Hokies turnout is expected for the bowl game.
"Our fans have been fabulous all season, and I know Hokie Nation will be anxious to join us in Charlotte for the Belk Bowl," Tech first-year coach Justin Fuente said in a written release. "As I told the team after [Saturday's] game, our seniors deserve to end their careers out on a positive note. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to this senior class and our staff will do everything possible to prepare our squad to face a quality foe from the SEC."
This will be the first matchup between Virginia Tech and Arkansas in football. The Razorbacks are making their third consecutive and 42nd overall bowl appearance.
The Hokies, who had a fourth-quarter comeback thwarted in a 42-35 loss to Clemson on Saturday night in Orlando, possess the longest current bowl streak recognized by the NCAA.
"[Former Hokies coach Frank] Beamer and his teams built Virginia Tech into the nation's most consistent postseason participant and we appreciate the standard we're expected to uphold," Fuente said. "For myself, these seniors and this entire squad, we felt an obligation to extend Coach Beamer's bowl streak. Now, our objective is to prepare and play to the best of our ability to conclude this season with a victory. I can't thank Hokie Nation enough for their unwavering support and our team looks forward to seeing the stands packed with Maroon and Orange in Charlotte."
The Belk Bowl has been a matchup of teams from the SEC and ACC since 2014. The SEC team has won both games -- Georgia over Louisville, 37-14, in 2014 and Mississippi State over N.C. State, 51-28, last year -- since the current selection format was adopted.
Tech faces an Arkansas team that faced a gauntlet of formidable foes this season. The Razorbacks went 3-4 against ranked teams, with wins against then-No. 15 TCU, then-No. 12 Ole Miss and then-No. 11 Florida.
Arkansas won its first three games and was 5-2 after taking down Mississippi at home on Oct. 15, but it sputtered at the end with three losses in its final five games.
Junior quarterback Austin Allen, a Fayetteville, Ark., native, has led a balanced offensive attack for the Razorbacks. He has completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,152 yards, 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Sophomore running back Rawleigh Williams III has paced the Arkansas running game with 1,326 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Senior linebacker Brooks Ellis leads the Razorbacks with 78 tackles and seven tackles for loss.
NOTES, QUOTES
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
--QB Jerod Evans has made quite an impression in his first season with the Hokies after transferring from Trinity Valley Community College in the offseason. Evans, a junior, has set school records this season in passing yards (3,303), passing touchdowns (27), total yards (4,062) and total touchdowns (37). The threat he poses as a passer and rusher, as well as his ability to limit mistakes -- he has thrown only seven interceptions -- has led Tech's offense to new heights. With one game remaining, the Hokies have already broken their single-season record for total yards (5,821 and counting).
--WR Isaiah Ford needed only three seasons to rewrite Tech's receiving record book. And as a projected early-round NFL pick, this may be the end of his run as a college player. Ford became the first player in program history to gain 1,000 yards in a season in 2015, and he duplicated the feat this season. He leads the team with 73 receptions (two off his single-season record), 1,038 yards and seven touchdowns. Ford holds every major career receiving record at the school, including receptions (204), yards (2,911) and touchdowns (24).
--DT Woody Baron has enjoyed a stellar senior season, racking up big numbers and accolades in the process. He has 17.5 tackles for loss this season, the most of any interior lineman at a Power 5 school this season and the most by a Tech defensive tackle since J.C. Price had 23 during an All-American season in 1995. Baron, who has 52 tackles and 4.5 sacks this season, was the Hokies' only first-team selection in media voting for the All-ACC team.
--LB Andrew Motuapuaka has a nose for the football. The third-team All-ACC pick has three interceptions, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries this season and he increased his career touchdown total to four when he returned a fumble 70 yards for a score against Virginia on Nov. 26. Motuapuaka, who leads the Hokies with 106 tackles and is tied for the team interception lead, has three fumble return touchdowns and one interception return touchdown for his career.
