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Kansas wins the Orange Bowl! Surreal!

Evening gents. Well, fearing a jinx, I have made no mention of my Kansas Jayhawks trip to the Orange Bowl tonight. I knew they were completely capable of not only staying with Virginia Tech, but outright "winning" it. They did just that. No fumblerooskie plays, no bad calls on a late game pass pattern, none of it. Just a team that came out 17-0 and put it on ice with some fourth quarter rushing that came not a minute too soon. Final 24-21.

For one full month I have endured sports talk radio callers popping off about Kansas' weak schedule, haven't played anyone, a fraud, etc. "Just wait till your 'Hawks play a real team like Tech." We did, we won, no Mickey Mouse, no apologies. Kansas University FOOTBALL is 12-1 this year. Football at Kansas. Can you believe that? We've been waiting 40 years for a return trip to the Orange Bowl. The last time was the dreaded "12th man" game. Look up history. A devastating loss for Kansas that year. Ever since it had been toilet bowl teams. Not this year. You could smell it from the first game of the season. I'll tell you, I am just floating right now. This is a good day to be a Jayhawk. A football team that will wind up in the top five at years end poll and a basketball team that is in the top three and 14-0. Yeah, this is a good day.

Regards, Todd
 
Wow Tsteb. Tough and defensive minded yes. Ugly? I wouldn't go that far but who cares? I am happy as can be. Thanks for the congrats.

Regards, Todd
 
:yesnod: :wink1: :thumbup: :thumbsup: :badger: :clap: :a8: :a54:

Rock Chalk n walked the walk! Congratulations! I'm a Prunepicker by birth but lived in Kansas during my formative years and I'm glad your Jayhawks won the Orange Bowl.

After my father died, my mother was a housemother @ KU when "Danny and the Miracles" won the NCAA in basketball.

KU should have beaten Missouri but look at what Stanford did to USC for instance.

I was on Okinawa when the "12th man" burst KU's bubble. My uncle and Bobby Douglass's father were roomates in college.

Bet the Freestate was in orbit. We have friends in Lawrence and I was a counselor at Boys' State until becoming a GI; lots of good times and memories there.

Richard
 
Hi Richard. Thanks for the reply. Great to hear from from someone who knows the teams. I think Bobby Douglass now owns the Eldridge Hotel downtown. At least he is part of the ownership group I believe. Danny and the Miracles. I remember it like it was yesterday though it will be twenty years this coming spring. Danny is now an assistant for current head coach Bill Self. His presence is a big plus for the players. Indeed, Jayhawk land was about ten feet off the ground last night. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Regards, Todd
 
Thanks Pat. Yeah, it has really been a long drought here in the guts of the country the last decade or so. I mean, we had Martyball tease us in the early 90's only to poop out in the NFL playoffs. Then Roy Williams did the same with our 'Hawks basketball team. Finally, 20 years after the BBall championship, we have something genuine to hang our hats on. A major sports victory on a national stage. Today has been suh-weet.

Regards, Todd
 
I'm not sure what to say about all this. Well, I'm obviously bummed as anything. And well, I do not want to take anything away from the Jayhawks. They came, they played well, they proved to be a more rounded team than most people thought, and the showed that they belonged.

At the same time, I am really more bummed about my team's performance than the actual loss. It was just plain sloppy and not up to par. It was like after a long streak of really good, top-tier play, we regressed to the sloppy, half-hearted mess that we were the first three or four games of the season.

Honestly, more than anything else, though, I blame the coaching. Generally, I think Beamer is one of the best coaches in college football, but I really think this game was not handled well. We were able to consistently move the ball running, especially once Ore came into the game after the 1st quarter. So it is very unclear why we did not rely much more heavily on the run, and more shorter, higher percentage passing. Ultimately, I think that decision probably cost us the game.

-Mo
 
Mo, your team will be back. They are just TOO good. I thought that VTech's defense played VERY well. So did ours. All year long people were discounting Ks. defense. Big mistake. Only Nebraska and Missouri scored more than 30 pts on them and no others but Okie St. broke 24. I think that Okie States offense was in the top five and they averaged about 40 per game. Results.Kansas may not have had a bruiser schedule but they won the games. Many times in dominant fashion. Four of those teams were in bowls and Missouri was ranked number one when they beat us at Arrowhead by 8 points.

I think Tech thought they may be able to run over Ks. defense. As was shown, not so. Ore was REALLY good in the second quarter but I have to give Kansas some due, they really contained him in the late third quarter. I don't normally see much ACC football so I have no reference but it seemed as though the Hokie's sideline was shell shocked. I think that much like Kansas vs Missouri, Tech got knocked out of the game plan early on and could not recover. Like you I tend to really chew arse on the coaching staff for that kind of stuff. I know it is just hard for them to wrap their head around because if ANYONE(including me)would have told you three months ago that Kansas would be 12-1 and would defeat the Hokies in the Orange Bowl and never trail the entire game, you would have happily handed them a big fat straight jacket. I think you are right to question Beamer's judgment a bit. I strongly suspect that he underestimated Kansas. The national media did not want us or our rival Missouri in the BCS games. We just "didn't belong". They were trumpeting this all week long and the silliest take I heard on it was that "Kansas is just happy to be there". I sat right down at that moment and offered up a great thanks to the football gods and hoped that Tech felt the same way. I suspect there are a great many football experts who didn't see this one coming. We have been smelling it ever since the letdown in Arrowhead. Again, no bravado intended at all. I don't want this to be a one season wonder. I want us to belong in the top 25 every year. I want to challenge for BCS bowls EVERY year. It has been a long time coming for us out here in cattle country. Now we just have to hold onto our coach and hope Aqib Talib does not bolt early for the NFL.

Regards, Todd
 
We were able to consistently move the ball running, especially once Ore came into the game after the 1st quarter. So it is very unclear why we did not rely much more heavily on the run, and more shorter, higher percentage passing. Ultimately, I think that decision probably cost us the game.

-Mo

+1000000.......
Beamer's not alone........I'm certainly no football expert, but it seems like there was a great deal of that going on this season, namely coaches not sticking with what's working. I myself was wondering why in H-E-double hockey sticks was Tech throwing ball when Ore was running so well?? It ain't like he was runnin' outta gas! He sat the 1st quarter! Sorry Mo, but your boys made me look bad in front of SWMBO. She was genuinely interested in the game, asking questions and all, and I told her I thought VT would beat KS with superior speed. Guess I was wrong....good win for the Jayhawks.
 
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