Instant Analysis: Orange Bowl

In a game with numerous twists, turning points, and tensions, the simplest summation of Kansas’s hugely significant triumph over Virginia Tech could be found in the fact that the Jayhawks—on the sidelines and on the field—possessed a much higher football IQ. The smarter team and coaching staff clearly prevailed in the 2008 Orange Bowl.

Yes, you could say that Virginia Tech dropped touchdown passes and interceptions (one each). Sure, you could say that Kansas put together just one legitimate scoring drive (although the game ended with the Jayhawks one yard away from another touchdown). Yeah, you could mention that this game was decided by Hokie gaffes more than anything else. But for all the truth found in those statements, the fact remains that Mark Mangino’s ballclub—with fewer physical specimens than Frank Beamer’s boys—stood up to the ACC champions and proved to be clearly superior.

This wasn’t an artful victory, but it definitely represented a clean kill for the BCS at-large team that made the most of its unexpected invitation to Miami. The Jayhawks, when given their one big shot on the national stage, didn’t flinch or fold. They faced a name program and responded with poise and grace under pressure. As a result, the program produced the biggest victory of KU’s entire season, not to mention the past 40 years. After losing to Joe Paterno and Penn State by a single point in the 1969 Orange Bowl, Kansas made good in South Florida this time around, winning one not just for a special team and the national coach of the year, but also for the history books.

The lads from Lawrence earned their landmark victory for a very simple reason: they possessed more brains than their opponents from Blacksburg. It wasn’t just that the Hokies displayed a sloppier brand of ball; it was the fact that Kansas craniums cranked out better reactions and more rational responses to various game situations. Between the headsets and between the white lines, the Jayhawks absolutely destroyed the Hokies. A brief stroll through this game’s more fascinating developments told the tale of how a January newbie knocked off the bearer of the BeamerBall brand name.

First off, Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing turned in the most beautiful and thoroughly impressive 21-of-38 passing performance one could possibly hope to have. Basic math will tell you that 21-of-38 is just a hair over 50 percent, which doesn’t exactly set the world on fire. Yet, with the exception of two passes (one which Tech intercepted, one which Tech dropped… and could have changed the game), Reesing displayed substantial smarts on the field. Many of his incompletions were wise throwaway passes under pressure, and he rarely endangered the ball. For most of the night, Reesing threw accurate passes in very tight windows, minimizing mistakes and erring on the side of caution. Mangino’s leader under center continued to be an extension of the coach who taught him so well. In terms of game management, field-general leadership, and overall pocket presence, Reesing rose to the occasion in Miami.

On the other side of the ball, Virginia Tech trotted out two quarterbacks who—after playing so well down the stretch in the regular season—became body-snatched and baffled near the beaches of the Sunshine State. For whatever reason, Sean Glennon and especially Tyrod Taylor seemed to play the whole game in a fog, with negative body language and clouded minds. Three interceptions from Tech’s two quarterbacks didn’t just deny scoring chances to the ACC champions; much more importantly, those picks directly led to Kansas points. The Jayhawks didn’t have to lift a finger on offense to tally 17 of their 24 points. They took one interception into the end zone, ran a second interception to the Hokie 2, and added a field goal after intercepting Glennon at the Tech 31, already in scoring range. As is so often the case in tight football games, it’s just not accurate to say that turnovers alone make the difference; it’s the timing and location of the turnovers that make the difference. With smarter quarterbacking and game management, Kansas got the more timely and better-located turnovers on this night, and that tells you why the Jayhawks jumped for joy at the end of this messy affair.

Speaking of interceptions, the man who took one of them into the end zone for Kansas’ first score was yet another brainy and brilliant performer who won with his instincts, and not necessarily his athleticism. Aqib Talib, the anchor of KU’s secondary, gave his team a 7-0 lead and set the tone for this contest by reading Tech’s quarterbacks like a first-grade spelling book. Talib—who is to KU’s defense what Todd Reesing is to KU’s offense—displayed the football IQ that showed why the Jayhawks have outfoxed and outflanked opponents all season. Always around the ball and able to make the big play when the moment demanded it, Talib changed the trajectory of the game with his smarts and savvy. In the form of Talib, Kansas found yet another source of instinctual intelligence on a night when Tech mangled and mismanaged many matters against Mangino.

This brings us to what might have been the most defining aspect of this game—the coaching performances. On a night when Kansas had the smarter players, the Jayhawks also had the better coach.

There were several ways in which the national coach of the year proved to be the biggest difference maker of all, while Beamer—his counterpart—had a major hand in losing this contest as well. For starters, Mangino had great play calls in third-and-short or fourth-and-short situations. Using the pass on short-yardage plays, Mangino gave Reesing simple and very short pass plays to the perimeter that picked up easy three-yard gains to keep the sticks moving. Without overthinking, Mangino gave his quarterback a very simple game plan that was accentuated by the many rollouts which enabled Reesing to see downfield and find passing lanes. The structure and design of KU’s offense were perfect for this game, and Mangino’s situational moves proved to carry the day. Yes, his toss run at the Hokie 1 in the third quarter blew up in his face, denying the Jayhawks a touchdown in the process, but for most of this contest, the best coach of 2007 pushed the right buttons on the third night of 2008.

On the other sideline, the results weren’t so good because Frank Beamer—who admittedly couldn’t do much about the special teams blunders that crippled his Hokies—didn’t help his cause with the decisions he made. After he and offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring failed to give running back Branden Ore enough touches for most of the night, Beamer—still within striking distance midway through the fourth quarter—made a decision that would come back to haunt him. With Kansas watching the 25-second play clock and about to call timeout, Beamer shockingly intervened and insisted on calling the timeout the Jayhawks were ready to concede. When the Hokies scored their late touchdown with three minutes left in regulation, that one needlessly forfeited timeout affected Beamer’s outlook. With only two timeouts and not three, Beamer went for the onside kick in a game his team trailed by only three points. When trailing by a field goal, field position becomes that much more valuable, meaning that the Hokies should have kicked the ball deep if at all possible. And while Beamer still could have kicked the ball deep with three minutes to go, it was understandable that he felt the need to pull the trigger on an onside kick. But when that kick was recovered by Kansas, the strategic squeeze had Beamer by the neck, and when the Hokies tried to stop the clock, Beamer lost the ability to save 35 or 40 extra seconds with that extra timeout he squandered several minutes earlier.

And so, the story of this weird and wild Orange Bowl—for all of its special teams surprises and sudden momentum shifts—is a deceivingly simple one. In the secondary (Talib), at quarterback (Reesing), and between the headsets on the sidelines (Mangino)—three areas of football where savvy students of the sport are so essential—Kansas had the smarter human beings with the higher football IQs. As a result, a relatively close game became a Jayhawk joyride when all was said and done. They’re partying like it’s 1969 in Lawrence, because the memories of a 12-man-on-the-field penalty against Penn State have now been avenged. A painful memory in the history of KU football has been wiped away, as the men of Mark Mangino end their sensational season at 12-1.

”What’s the matter with Kansas?” That question gets asked a lot in American politics, but on a night when the Orange Bowl competed with the Iowa Caucuses for public attention—a first in American history—it can safely be said that nothing’s wrong with the gridiron Jayhawks. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Kansas is the winner in Dade County, the city of Miami, and the state of Florida. It’s the best election night result Mark Mangino could have hoped for when this long college football campaign began back in September.