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Monday, December 3, 2007

Ryan Wood’s KU football notebook

By Ryan Wood

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Jayhawks Orange Bowl bound

There is no 'Fiesta' for KU, but the Jayhawks are celebrating with a BCS bowl game. The Jayhawks are heading back to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1969.

KU to square off against Virginia Tech in Orange Bowl

The Kansas Jayhawk football team was rewarded for an 11-1 season by a birth in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.

Photo Gallery

Orange Bowl announcement

Reader poll

What do you think will be the most competitive BCS game?

  • Orange Bowl (KU vs. VT) 42% 1573 votes
  • Sugar Bowl (UGA vs. Hawaii) 8% 306 votes
  • Rose Bowl (USC vs. Illinois) 3% 130 votes
  • Fiesta Bowl (OU vs. WV) 26% 984 votes
  • Title Game (LSU vs. tOSU) 19% 727 votes

3720 total votes.

Not you, Mizzou

Missouri's football team, 11-2 and Big 12 North champions, was passed over by the BCS and instead will go the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

So did KU's players feel sorry for Missouri at all?

"No," linebacker Joe Mortensen said.

Mizzou certainly has reason to cry foul. It beat the Jayhawks, 36-28, just two weeks ago and was ranked sixth in the latest BCS standings to the Jayhawks' eighth.

But the Tigers' 38-17 loss to Oklahoma in Saturday's Big 12 championship game probably damaged their resume enough to take them out of the picture - even though they beat Kansas to get that far.

"We had the opportunity to take one of the two one-loss teams that were available," Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms said. "With Oklahoma's convincing victory, we thought that an 11-1 team would be very appealing, not only nationally but in the South Florida marketplace."

A little history

The Jayhawks are playing in the Orange Bowl for the third time. Back when the bowl was affiliated with the Big Eight, Kansas played in the 1948 and 1969 editions.

The '69 game was the classic "Twelfth Man Game," a 15-14 Penn State victory that was made possible by a second-chance two-point conversion with 15 seconds left. That was because KU had too many players on the field.

Tastes good

KU junior defensive tackle James McClinton was asked what he did when athletic director Lew Perkins tossed him an orange Sunday.

"Want me to show you?" McClinton replied.

He then threw the orange up in the air, caught it, and took a giant bite out of it.

Already 'dogs

Just hours after the bowl pairings were announced, the Mirage in Las Vegas opened Virginia Tech as a three-point favorite over Kansas.

Long-term plans

Kansas practiced Sunday, but will take the beginning of this week off before working Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"After that, I haven't worked anything out," KU coach Mark Mangino said. "I just wanted to make sure where we were going."

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Comments

okjhok (anonymous) says...

Regarding the reader poll, I think the Orange may well be the most competitive game. I'm not crazy about playing VT. I think this one will be in the 20s or teens, and not too terribly exciting to watch, but should be a very competitive game, one KU can definitely win. I think KU received a huge gift here and I hope they take advantage of the stage. This is a program-changing opportunity.

December 3, 2007 at 5:33 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

I think that Sugar Bowl matchup will be very entertaining. Hawaii can really move the ball and because they have so many receivers they create bad matchups.

The matchups without Big Ten teams should all be very good and very competitive. Unfortunately, the love affair with the Big Ten (instead of inviting an Arizona State squad that was more deserving) will keep the country from seeing the best possible games.

December 3, 2007 at 9:06 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kickazzkurtz (anonymous) says...

I could be wrong, but I don't think the ACC was that great. VT lost big to LSU and lost at home to BC, but beat them in the rematch. KU is good on offense and defense and VT is just defense. KU by 14 is my prediction.

December 3, 2007 at 9:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

The ACC is overrated which means that VT is overrated, because they play teams that are overrated. Va. Tech's philosophy fits right into our hands. They are a run first, suck at passing type of offense, like A&M. Our defense will own Va. Tech. Our offense won't need to score much. They'll probably get at least 24-30. We'll win, relatively easy. The best thing about all this is, everyone thinks Va. Tech is really good. That will get us the respect we have been looking for.

December 3, 2007 at 11:10 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ohioburg (anonymous) says...

Only thing bad about the Orange Bowl is the one-hour halftime show.

December 3, 2007 at 11:52 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

wcormode (William Cormode) says...

Is there even anyone out there who actually likes halftime shows? The fans at the stadium hate them because you cant hear anything and it is smoky from fireowrks so you cant see. The people at home leave and eat rather than watch. Why do advertisers continue to pay for this crap that doesnt work?

December 3, 2007 at 12:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

madmangine (anonymous) says...

to the writers and administrators here at ku sports: it is an absolute travesty that you did not lead the page with an article about ku being orange bowl bound. seriously folks, this is a much, much bigger story than mario freaking chalmers having some sort of some type of game against a mediocre pac 10 foe. absolutely ridiculous! there is talk in the administration about having difficulty selling our 20,000 seats to the orange bowl so we need all the support and promotion we can get. sorry, but what has the freaking basketball team done but chronically overachieve. wake up folks, there is a new team in town.

December 3, 2007 at 1:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

Fox Sports Net predicts a 27-23 KU win over VT in the Orange Bowl.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

December 3, 2007 at 1:10 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

ESPN is not giving us any love. They're saying that VT is too fast on both sides of the ball for us to compete.

Hopefully, playing "smart" football can make up for the speed difference.

December 3, 2007 at 1:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...

I agree, madmangine...there's plenty of time to worry about b-ball...like March.

December 3, 2007 at 1:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jimmy_Dean (Alan Halvorsen) says...

they may have speed on D. We can deal with that. Their offense reminds me a lot of our 2005 offense. Very one dimensional, and predictable. We will pound them. This will be a very similar game to the CU, and A&M games.

December 3, 2007 at 1:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

"... what has the freaking basketball team done but chronically overachieve."

Huh??? Do you mean underachieve? Otherwise, I agree with your point. I love KU basketball, but it was a ridiculous choice on the J-W's part.

December 3, 2007 at 2:57 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

kc_wildfire (anonymous) says...

KU basketball beat a top 25 team on the road with one of the top freshmen in the country on a Sunday afternoon (which they hardly ever play)...

KU football hasn't played a game in over a week and the news of them making the Orange Bowl was already all over t.v. and sports radio...

I have a feeling that the basketball game would have gone unnoticed by a lot of people if it wasn't the lead story. If you read some of the posts on the basketball articles some people even mentioned they forget there was a game.

December 3, 2007 at 3:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

CasperCorps (anonymous) says...

The travesty is the title game, people shouldn't even watch that thing. Ohio State hasn't played for three weeks and when they did they lost to an unranked team. Their conference is down and if you want to talk about cupcake schedule just look at theirs. LSU has lost twice and the most recent was at their place versus another unranked team. Can you think about a more worthless game? (Besides the Misseery game) The BCS is a joke, thats right.. dollar signs.. Rockem Hawks..

December 3, 2007 at 4:34 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bg_duck1 (anonymous) says...

I totally forgot about the bball game even being on yesterday...but it definitely did not deserve to be the lead item. january 4, 2008 kusports.com headline: Bill Self wakes up and eats breakfast, oh yeah the football team played in the Orange Bowl

December 3, 2007 at 4:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

madmangine (anonymous) says...

Yes, underachieve. In my fury I slipped. This is neither a football or basketball school. its kansas, and it is completely insane that this morning, on this site, there wasn't a big ass orange the size of the entire page up. All I want is one, huge orange.

Love to all

(I'm not trying to take away anyones precious "hee hee" basketball team.

December 3, 2007 at 6:12 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FELONY (anonymous) says...

I didnt forget about the basketball game, I took my radio headset to the Chiefs v Raiders game which kicked off at noon, but got so caught up in the football game that I forgot to take the headset into the stadium. Then hung out in the parking lot with some friends, some of whom are MU fans and played them a lil Kansas on my cars' cd player "Carry on my wayward son, There'll be peace when you are done,Lay your weary head to rest, Don't you cry no more" The bass kicked in oh so sweet! They're not the typical MU fans, they don't whine and become obsessed where KU is going rather than their own dam team. Then I went home and waited for the BCS selection bowl to come on. I'm a fan of both the football and basketball teams so I'm going to click this site for info on both. I even went to the LA Times-USC sports site for their view of the game.

I would have loved a Big Orange on the entire page too, because I know the Tigger fans are supposedly boycotting the Orange Bowl, and the Idea that it would be the first thing they see when they stalk this page is hilarious.

December 3, 2007 at 9:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )