KU Game Day: Orange Bowl vs Virginia Tech

Orange Fever

KU (11-1) vs Virgina Tech (11-2) | Dolphin Stadium (capacity: 76,500)
Series: First Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m. TV: FOX Line: Virginia Tech (-3.5)

Virginia Tech Resources:
Official, TechSideline.com, TechSuperFans,  Working for the Lunch Pail, Washington Post, Roanoke Times + Randy King

What It Is
KU football has been disrespected all season by most of the national media. They've been referred to as pretenders despite the fact that no one in the KU football program has made a claim to anything. The Jayhawks went out and quietly tried to win their division. They came up short in the KU/MU game of all-time and the criticism toward Kansas soared. The Jayhawks have a taste of the what it's like to be on the national radar and I can guarantee they want more. A legitimate Virginia Tech squad presents the perfect opportunity to silence the critics and set the table for 2008. The Hokies will field the best defense that the Fighting Mangino's have played or likely will play. The experience will pay massive dividends as we add Texas and Oklahoma to our plate next year.

The Key
You have to assume that KU's defense can keep the Hokie offense in check. Because if they don't, the Hawks are in trouble. Given that, the question is can Todd Reesing and the crew solve the Virginia-Tech-7-NFL-player defense? This is where the team mentality is key for KU. Every week this year, the KU team has identified what the opposing "D" will give them and fortunately the Hawks have enough weapons to play it anyway that Tech wants. Speed kills though and it will be interesting to see how KU deals with that. It'll be a little suffocating, but spreading the field and attacking from several different points should eventually pan out for the Hawks. Virginia Tech doesn't have a lot of experience against this type of offense. It's easy to see this one play out much like the the Colorado or A&M games.

Final Analysis
It'd be nice to get out to a quick start. Again, our defense has to perform well. Virginia Tech only averages 3.4 yards per carry, so KU needs to eliminate the Va Tech ground game early on and allow the offense time to solve the equation on their side of the ball.

X-Factor
No gloves for Todd Reesing.