Three losses in their last five games pushed the Virginia Tech Hokies from contention for a BCS spot to its first appearance in the Sun Bowl is more than 60 years.
Virginia Tech (8-4, 5-3 ACC) will play UCLA (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) in the Dec. 31 game in El Paso, Texas.
The Hokies played their first-ever postseason game in the 1947 Sun Bowl. The 2013 bowl appearance will mark the 21st straight bowl appearance for Virginia Tech under coach Frank Beamer.