Two Minute Bowl Summary: The FedEx Orange Bowl

By Spencer Hall
There’s a ton of bowl games, and you can’t watch them all if you have a real job. Fortunately, we don’t, so take advantage and use the Two Minute Bowl Review to stay current and sound like you know what you’re talking about.
[img=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2165401191_bdc302277d.jpg?v=0]
AP Photo/Steve Helber
Competitive? Yes, and in a more diverse manner than most of the tennis matches you’ve seen this bowl season between teams racing to be the first to 35 points to win. Saying that neither team allowed more than 400 yards offense is a bit of a backhanded compliment, but there it is: the only bowl game that’s compared to the defensive performance in the Orange Bowl was the Liberty Bowl between Miss State and Central Florida. Look! Real cornerbacks! Hard tackling! Special teams play! In a season of lopsided matchups in the BCS, the change was a shockign and pleasant one.
Relevant stat to quote like you actually watched the whole game if you didn’t: 90 yards, or the combined length of the interception returns posted by Kansas safety Justin Thornton and cornerback Hakim Talib. Talib’s 60 yard return of a Tyrod Taylor pass gave Kansas their first lead; Thornton’s fourth quarter pick of Glennon led to a Todd Reesing TD plunge and a 24-14 lead with 11:01 left in the game.
Sentence that makes it sound like you watched the whole game: “Mangino is a very, very organized man--check out the Gatorade strategy at the end of the game.” With Kansas taking the field to celebrate, two Kansas players crept forward with the Gatorade bucket to douse Mangino. On cue, an assistant coach leapt forward and intervened, looking extremely serious and insisting they NOT dunk the head coach. In a night defined by big defensive plays, it’s only appropriate that Mangino planned against this, too.
Is this game anything? Meaning, does it have meaning for next year, college football and the world beyond? For Virginia Tech, losing a big game because of ineffective offense is an old story, so no--the offense has been, for most of the Beamer era, a placeholder for the defense and special teams.
For Kansas, the bowl win is simply massive. Recruiting, facilities upgrade, national profile, public profile...they all take a step forward with a BCS bowl win. The Big Man’s done yeoman’s work at Kansas, scrubbing the walls clean himself before recruiting visits in his first year and putting together a complete football team that blossomed into maturity in 2007. The best compliment they can be paid after this win is that a new and welcome curse awaits them in 2008: expectations.
Relevant Youtubage: What’s more fun than incorrect pregame taunting viewed postgame?

↵