Duke is headed to the Military Bowl in the program’s first bowl berth since 2018, and will face a team that played in a conference championship game this weekend.

The Blue Devils face UCF on Dec. 28 in Annapolis, Md., pitting upstart Duke in its first season under coach Mike Elko against a UCF team that lost 45-28 in the AAC championship to Tulane on Saturday.

“Obviously we haven’t had the opportunity to be in a bowl that last few years, so our guys are excited to go through this experience,” Elko said via Zoom on Sunday evening. “They’re excited to go out there and play one more game together.

“We’ve talked a lot this year about how close this group is.”

Duke hasn’t been to a bowl since 2018, when the Blue Devils won the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl 56-27 against Temple.

Despite the four-year span between bowl berths, the Blue Devils have won three straight bowl appearances — which has come on the heels of a five-bowl losing streak that dated back to 1961. Duke beat Indiana 44-41 in overtime in the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl, and beat Northern Illinois 36-14 in the 2017 Quick Lane Bowl.

The Blue Devils, at 8-4, have had a five-win turnaround from last season in Elko’s first as a head coach. He was named coach of the year for the ACC on Thursday.

“Beating Wake Forest in that last game, they’re a team on the rise,” said Steve Beck, president and executive director of the Military Bowl Foundation. “We like to get teams on the rise. … It’s an exciting story. They’ve got an exciting quarterback, who’s going to play, so we’re excited about that.”

The Military Bowl hasn’t been played for the last two years. In 2020 it was canceled because so many teams opted out of playing in a bowl; last year’s matchup between

The last time the Military Bowl was played, UNC beat Temple 55-13 in 2019; Sam Howell was the MVP.

Duke hasn’t played in the Military Bowl previously, but Elko has coached in it; his last game as Wake Forest’s defensive coordinator in 2016 was a 34-26 win over Temple.

The Blue Devils stand to return some players who were banged up at certain points throughout the season, given they’re going to go a month between games.

“We think (wide receiver) Eli Pancol’s got a really good chance to play, we think (tight end) Nicky Dalmolin’s got a really good chance, we think (offensive lineman) Jacob Monk has a really good chance to play,” Elko said. “You know, all of the bangs and bruises of the season, it’s been nice to get a little time off and let those things heal.

“We’ll be a fresh football team going into that game, I think.”