Jayhawks Use BeamerBall To Knock Off Hokies In Orange Bowl

Virginia Tech's Justin Harper evades the last possible tackler before scampering into the end zone during a punt return in the third quarter.
STAFF PHOTO BY BRIAN SEWELL

Virginia Tech is known for its stout defense and outstanding special teams, but tonight it was the Jayhawks turn to show off in those two areas. Kansas recorded three interceptions on defense, returning one for a touchdown, but was even better on special teams converting on a fake punt as well as blocking a crucial momentum-changing field goal.

“We’ve heard a lot about Virginia Tech’s special teams,” said Jayhawks head coach Mark Mangino, “how good they are, and they are very good. But once again our special teams were overlooked. From the outside, the media just didn’t pick up on the type of success that we’ve had on special teams.”

Coming into the game all of the talk was about Kansas’ offense versus Virginia Tech’s defense, but that wasn’t the case when the players took the field as the Jayhawks defense, behind Orange Bowl MVP Aqib Talib, wreaked havoc on both Hokie signal callers.

Talib got the scoring underway in the first quarter when he intercepted Tyrod Taylor’s pass and returned it 60 yards into the end zone giving the Jayhawks the early 7-0 lead.

“We saw a lot of outs on film,” said Talib, “and Coach had us in the call where I was able to jump any route. So I just kind of slowed down in my backpedal and he ran the out; and the quarterback was a little late on the throw and he threw me the ball.”

The Jayhawks would capitalize with a field goal on another turnover as it was freshman Chris Harris who intercepted Sean Glennon this time. The Jayhawks tacked on another touchdown as well and before the Hokies knew it, they were on the verge of getting blown out.

That’s when running back Branden Ore arrived on the scene and began to turn the Hokies misfortunes around. The junior sat out the first quarter for being late to a practice leading up to the game, so with only three quarters to carry the load he got to work quickly and with less than two minutes left in the first half, Ore powered it in from one yard out to cut the Kansas lead to 17-7 at the half.

Ore had only his second 100-yard rushing performance of the season gaining 116 yards on 23 carries, but because of the fourth quarter deficit the Hokies had to go away from their ground attack and put it in the air, playing right into the Jayhawks’ hands.

Coming out of the half, Virginia Tech looked like a team possessed and ready to take over the game as the defense, led by their two standout linebackers in Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, shut down the Jayhawks offense. Hall was questionable coming into the game after injuring his knee in a water accident while participating in the Orange Bowl activities that were set up for the teams, but he played like the injury didn’t faze him at all.

Wideout Justin Harper got things really going when Tech head coach Frank Beamer rolled the dice and ran a reverse on the Jayhawks’ first punt of the second half. It was run to perfection as Eddie Royal received the punt, headed right and then flipped it back to Harper who was running back to the left. After eluding a couple of Kansas defenders, he made his way into the end zone for an 84-yard touchdown cutting the KU lead down to three and completely shifting the momentum to the Tech sidelines.

The most important play of the game occurred later on in the third quarter when Tech drove the ball from their own 18-yard line all the way down to the Kansas seven. The Hokies had a fourth down and one, but Beamer elected to go for the field goal instead of going for it, and it didn’t turn out exactly how he saw it as Jud Dunlevy’s 25-yard attempt was blocked swaying all of the momentum back over to the Jayhawks.

“I wanted to go for that first down,” said Beamer. “It was just when they measured it, it was a long one. And you know my thoughts at that point; let’s make sure we get it tied up. We had the momentum. I thought the momentum was turning. We’d get that thing tied up and we kind of got free and they blocked the kick.”

From that moment on, all the air seemed to be sucked from the Hokies and it culminated with the third interception for the Jayhawks as Justin Thornton picked off Glennon and returned it all the way to the Virginia Tech two-yard line. On the next play quarterback Todd Reesing ran it in for the touchdown putting Kansas up 24-14.

Reesing took a pretty good pounding from the Hokies defense most of the game. He finished the night 20-of-37 for 227 yards with one touchdown and one interception, but the sophomore made the plays when it counted. His counterparts in Glennon and Taylor combined to only go 14-of-31 for 171 yards with one touchdown but three very costly interceptions.

The Hokies gave some hope to the fans when they cut the Kansas lead to only three points with three minutes remaining, but the Jayhawks recovered the onside kick and a couple first downs later, they had the victory sealed up. Reesing took a knee and then rocketed the football into the air in jubilation as the Kansas Jayhawks remarkable run continued on.

“To finally be at this point at the top finishing at 12 1 is awesome,” said Reesing. “It’s ecstasy.”

For the Hokies it’s back to the drawing boards as they now must regroup for next season minus 20 seniors who played their last game in the maroon and orange. This group of seniors will leave Blacksburg with an overall record of 42-11 making them the winningest group ever at Virginia Tech.