Some thoughts…from Miami
Ryan Wood, Journal-World KU football beat writer
“The offense was hyped all week, but it was KU’s defense that won one of the most important games in school history.
The Jayhawks’ three interceptions all led to scores. All of them rattled Virginia Tech while jolting the Kansas sideline.
It was a magical season, and it received a healthy dose of validation. Kansas, at long last, has its signature win.”
Tom Keegan, Journal-World sports editor
“The 118th and best team in Kansas University football history removed the only lingering question as to its place among the nation’s best teams: Who was the best team Kansas defeated? Virginia Tech, ranked third in the BCS standings going into the game.”
Ryan Greene, KUSports.com editor
“Two memories from watching this game which will stick out in my mind. 1) Aqib Talib, the unheralded, two-star corner coming out of high school, picking off a first quarter pass from five-star big-timer Tyrod Taylor and taking it 60 yards to the house. It was symbolic of what this KU team was built on – hard work rather than overabundance of talent. 2) Todd Reesing’s two-yard touchdown run, which ultimately clinched this one, saw an incredible celebration afterwards, both by the battered QB, but also the KU student section directly behind the end zone. It was something else. It’s also scary to think of what this team has back next year, even if (and I’d guess that it’s probably happening) Talib and Anthony Collins aren’t still in crimson and blue.”
Inside the numbers
6: The Jayhawks were even surprised themselves when they showed up in the locker room Thursday afternoon to find their red uniforms ready and waiting. This was without question the toughest of the six opponents KU has faced while donning crimson tops in their three-year stint as part of the wardrobe, but the Jayhawks remain undefeated in the alternate unis.
3: Virginia Tech’s defense got all the pub earlier in the week, but KU’s will get it in the aftermath. The cornerstone to the Jayhawks’ defensive showing was the three picks. Talib had his 60-yard TD with the Deion-like high-step, Justin Thornton’s set up the game-sealing Reesing score and Chris Harris had to reach backwards to pull his down in the first half. Also give credit to the KU pass rush, which while inconsistent for much of the year registered five sacks, keeping Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor uncomfortable all night.
227: Todd Reesing was not the MVP in the end, but he displayed by far more toughness than anyone in this game. The undersized QB was thrown around and beat up for most of the night, but he used his patented unorthodox escape methods from the pocket and kept the highlights coming. He slung 227 yards together with his right arm and slammed into VT defenders at the line late for the game-clinching TD.
60: The game’s biggest play was Aqib Talib’s 60-yard TD. No question. The VT quarterbacks tried to avoid throwing in his general direction as much as possible, but he still finished with 4.5 tackles. The performance on that national stage may have solidified his spot in the first day of this April’s NFL Draft. If so, it was one heck of a going-away party.
8: Outside of Talib, the defensive standout deserving plenty of mention was middle linebacker Joe Mortensen, calling this the greatest day of his life. Mortensen, in his first season as KU’s starting MLB, had 5.5 tackles, a sack and a huge blocked field goal which kept Virginia Tech from tying the game up at 17-17 in the second half. He’s just one of the key cogs in the Jayhawk defense which will return next year.
Just in case you missed it…
Micah Brown came away as an unsung hero for the Jayhawks, as someone always seems to do so in big games. He was a 22-yard recipient of a Brandon McAnderson pass on a fake punt, but had one even bigger play in punt coverage. In the fourth quarter, KU was punting to Tech up just 17-14. Kyle Tucker’s booming kick sailed along the sideline down to near the 20, where Eddie Royal was waiting for it. Brown, a gunner on punt coverage, worked around his man and scared Royal enough to where the Hokie speedster backed away. The punt wound up bouncing to inside the VT 10-yard line and was downed. Three plays later, Justin Thornton picked off a Sean Glennon pass and set up Todd Reesing’s game-clinching TD run.
Hopefully, you didn’t miss it…
You’d think this had happened already throughout an 11-1 regular season run, but KU finally gave the nation the wake-up call it had been needing, beating someone worthy of being considered the Jayhawks’ signature win in the 2007 campaign. KU had some added pressure in some folks’ eyes coming into this game given what Missouri did to Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. Many thought the Tigers should have been in Miami. The Jayhawks shut it out, and for 60 minutes played at Virginia Tech’s smashmouth level, hitting back every time. Even though KU had landed on the national college football map already this season, Thursday served as the official coming-out party.
They said it…
Aqib Talib on KU’s defense rising into the spotlight: “We just did our part, man. They kind of put us in the background of the game, and we could care less where they put us in the game. We were going to prepare and come out and perform the same way, whether we was in the spotlight or in the background. We didn’t mind being in the background in the game at all.”
Aqib Talib on his high-step into the end zone: “I felt it, man. That was maybe one of the few chances I had to be in a situation like that. So I was just excited. I didn’t mean to get the flag, I got caught up in the moment.”
Aqib Talib on his future: “I’m gonna just enjoy my night, and I’ll worry about the future in the future…It’s a deadline. I don’t know what the deadline is, but I’m sure it’s a deadline, so I have until that deadline to make a decision.”
Joe Mortensen on the feelings after winning the Orange Bowl: “It’s the greatest day of my life, man. We really worked hard to be here, and we know we deserve to be here and we showed it today. Compliments to our coaches. They got us here, and we’ve got the best coaching staff in the nation. Words can’t describe how we’re feeling right now. I can’t describe it.
Joe Mortensen on proving a point against a defensive-minded VT squad: “They have a great defense, one of the best in the nation, and we kind of wanted to show everybody what we could do. They talk about their safeties and their linebackers and what they could do and how they’re top-10 in everything, well it was a challenge for us. We rose to the occasion and we showed them. We outplayed their defense and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Joe Mortensen on his blocked field goal: “Coach Young (called an) all-out block. We’ve been practicing it, we got great penetration by the defensive line, I just turned my shoulder, slipped through and blocked it…I just dipped my shoulder like coach Young teaches us all week. I’ve got a 290-, 300-pound defensive tackle right next to me, and he sees a 240 linebacker, so who’s he going to block? He put a little too much effort into him, I slipped through and blocked it.”
Todd Reesing on taking a licking in Thursday’s triumph: “Well, I got pads on, so it didn’t hurt too bad. That’s part of football; you’ve got to get hit. But it was just a great feeling being out there. This team has fought so hard all season long. And people continually told us we didn’t have a chance to win. We weren’t good enough for this reason or that reason. And we kept coming out each week and finding a way to win. People told us we didn’t have a chance to win this game. That really gets us fired. We’d rather be the underdog than favored. It really gets us motivated and guys come out and practice hard all winter break long. Everyone is back home, and we were up there in Kansas practicing in the snow. So we got ready. To finally be at this point at the top finishing at 12-1 is awesome. It’s ecstasy.”
Todd Reesing on overcoming momentum swings in VT’s favor: “That was probably the most frustrating series or point in the game we had because we get two big catches and get the ball down to the one in a matter of plays, and then to go down there and have back-to-back penalties and just shoot ourselves in the foot was tough because getting a touchdown there would have been big in extending our lead and taking some pressure off of our defense…that happens, so we had to move on, and luckily our defense made enough plays and our offense made plays when we had to.”
Branden Ore on KU’s defense: “They just came out and played great football. They came out and forced turnovers that led to them putting points on the board. We just can’t have that if we expect to win the game.”
Justin Harper on KU’s defense, especially Aqib Talib: “We always knew KU’s defense was good. We never took them for granted. They fly around, Talib, he’s a great player, you see the walk-off interception, he’s going to be great at the next level next year…Great athlete, great ballplayer. You’ll definitely see him on Sundays. He’s easily the best DB we played all year. I’ll put him up there with the Brandon Flowers and the (Atlanta Falcons’) Jimmy Williams’ I’ve seen, the (Arizona Cardinals’) Antrel Rolles. He’s a great athlete, he can really play ball.”
Justin Harper on VT’s offense hurting its defense: “It hurts the team period to give up 17 points off of turnovers. We rely so much on our defense, but to spot the other team 17 points off of that, it hurts big time.”
Xavier Adibi on Todd Reesing: “He’s a tough football player, and I told him that after the game. He’s probably one of the tougher quarterbacks I’ve played against. We really just laid the wood to him a lot and he just kept bouncing back.”
