The 74th Annual Orange Bowl on FOX
Kansas (11-1) vs. Virginia Tech (11-2)
Live from Dolphin Stadium, Miami, FL
January 3, 2008
8pm ET
720p & DD5.1


The Jayhawks powered their way to a BCS bowl on the play of QB Todd Reesing and a potent rushing attack. Tech counters with the No.2-ranked scoring defense, led by cornerback Brandon Flowers.


Please post all related comments here, and include provider (OTA, Cable, DBS, FiOS, Sunday Ticket), and source (station call letters & city), thanks.

Tonight's Question:

Can a 2008 BCS Bowl not be a blowout?

Let's hope so.

From USA Today:

Orange Bowl gives Kansas, Va. Tech shot at redemption

By Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY

As teams carrying a combined 22-3 record and one conference title, Kansas and Virginia Tech arrive at Thursday's FedEx Orange Bowl believing they have something to prove.
Eighth-ranked Kansas (11-1) carries the disappointment of losing its final regular-season game and with it, a chance to possibly play for the national championship. No. 5 Virginia Tech (11-2) won the Atlantic Coast Conference but wants to show it is not the team that lost to LSU 48-7 in September, a defeat that knocked the Hokies out of title consideration.

The Jayhawks are playing in a BCS bowl for the first time since the system began in 1998. They win behind Division I-A's second-ranked scoring offense (44.3 points a game). The Hokies are in their third BCS game, including the national championship in 2000. They follow the country's No. 2 scoring defense (15.5 points).

Virginia Tech fulfilled expectations (the Hokies were ranked ninth in the USA TODAY coaches' preseason poll). Kansas was arguably this season's biggest surprise, rising as high as No. 2 in the polls after not receiving a single vote in the preseason top 25 following a 6-6 2006 season.

Perhaps that's why the Jayhawks have had to defend their schedule and their right to be playing in the Orange Bowl despite setting a school record for victories. Kansas' first four games came against Central Michigan, Southeast Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International. The Jayhawks received the Orange Bowl bid instead of Missouri despite losing to the Tigers in the regular-season finale and finishing with identical records.

"Dealing in reality, this is a heck of a good football team," Tech coach Frank Beamer says of Kansas. "They are very efficient. If you go through the Big 12 and lose one ball game, you don't have to apologize to anyone."

Virginia Tech's defense and special team play have been its trademark but Thursday's game could be decided by a battle of quarterbacks: the Hokies' two-man combination of Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor against Kansas junior Todd Reesing. Glennon is a stronger passer (1,636 yards, 11 touchdowns), while Taylor is an elusive runner (431 yards and six scores).

Reesing ranked ninth in passing efficiency as the key man in coach Mark Mangino's no-huddle offense. Reesing passed for 3,259 yards and 32 touchdowns, throwing only six interceptions in 409 attempts.

"He's not afraid to pull the trigger, and he has that thing quarterbacks need — short-term memory," KU offensive coordinator Ed Warriner sys of Reesing. "We coach him, but he sees what mistakes he's making and corrects them before you even say it."

This is Virginia Tech's first Orange Bowl appearance since a 41-21 loss to Nebraska in 1997. Kansas was here last in 1969 when the Jayhawks were penalized for having 12 men on the field and lost 15-14 to Penn State because the Nittany Lions scored on a second-chance two-point conversion in the final minute. Mangino has made one guarantee for Thursday: He's going to count the KU numbers on the field every play.

pic definitely looks improved over last night's game. better colors and sharper.

fox43 via comcast

pic definitely looks improved over last night's game. better colors and sharper.

Agreed.

WNYW-DT New York via Cablevision

Looking good via DirecTV ch 88. A bit better with OTA here.

Picture Quality definately looks good, as others have said.

I am wondering if anyone else is noticing this, but there seems to be some kind of audio interference. The sound I am hearing is a like a static sound.

Source: DWSVN (432) via Comcast

ton of pic noise here...course 25 is 720P....THug Tech is going down BABY!!

But the Pre-Game show and these announcers still suck. I hate when Fox tries to cover college football.:mad:

I mentioned this in the other thread: what's up with the position of the score banner/time clock/third and 5 thing? Why couldn't they just put it all the way up??

Dude!

I wonder if the stadium camera locations are closer to field than last nights. The colors are brighter, and the clarity is improved. It would be interesting if someone could find out what bitrate Fox is sending out tonight.

audio & video is really good here on TWC, to bad the Hoakies are playing like crap.

One thing I noticed on last nights game, and why tonights game looks better...was that the overall brightness level seemed higher. This resulted in a loss of contrast and dull colors.

Couldn't the score banner be moved up a little as mraif mentioned above?

Probably where it is at to allow for SD overscan.

As expected from FOX; looks good, sounds great.

Very good PQ watching via E*

I never thought I'd admit to liking any Fox graphics (most are so rediculously loud and unecessary) but the, "Bowl Bash" graphic is pretty cool looking.

Couldn't the score banner be moved up a little as mraif mentioned above?

Probably where it is at to allow for SD overscan.

yes, that's why. go turn it on on a sd set in your house somewhere and see where it lands...

just flipped on the game (took a movie break for a bit tonight :) )...

pq looks pretty darn good... nice and sharp, real good color. no pixelation on main cams. small amount on closeups. good grass.

aq nice. pretty immersive and realistic.

comcast south jersey.

at least it's not a blowout tonight.

who's bigger? mangino or friedgen? :p

Someone at FOX needs to reign in on the ad sales people running amok though. All that crap behind the set on the pregame show, you might as well just do the show in a freakin studio. I mean really the desk plasma had a freakin truck in it the entire time. And that DLP cam thing...ESPN and CBS do such a better job of integrating that stuff and not letting it steal the show. The Rose Bowl was such a classier looking show from top to bottom.

Also I remember this stadium was re-lit for the Super Bowl last year so that might have something to do with it, they definitely upped the foot candles on the field (though the stadium in Phoenix should pretty good too). This stadium was previously very dark and dull. I also feel like the director is overusing those band cams too, maybe they're sponsored. At least the game is okay.

Sorry I know this adds nothing to the thread but............ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!

Overall it looked good...but I could have sworn one of the cameras were messed up. There was one camera angle where the colors were jacked up...Kansas' blue helmets and blue stripe down the pants were purple. It was weird. Then when the camera switched, the colors were correct. Then later it would switch again to purple. But it was only one camera angle.

Tonight's Question:

Can a 2008 BCS Bowl not be a blowout?

Let's hope so.Whew. At least it was a game.

8 straight BCS Bowl losses for the ACC. :)

The game and Kansas cheerleaders aside... did anyone else notice how many of the commercials were actually in HD?

You forgot the Kuuuuuuuuuuu:)