2008 Orange Bowl
In the wake of the Hokies's defeat, Virginia Tech chose to start a new quarterback and a new offensive plan. Behind freshman Tyrod Taylor, the Hokies rolled to five straight victories, including a win over No. 22 Clemson by 18 points. During the winning streak, Sean Glennon, who had started at quarterback for the Hokies during the first two games of the season, returned to alternate possessions with Taylor in an unusual two-quarterback system. On October 25, the Hokies had a chance to make up for their early-season loss to LSU when they faced No. 2 Boston College on a Thursday night in Blacksburg, Virginia. Though the Hokies dominated for most of the game, Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan managed a late-game comeback to win the game 14–10 with 11 seconds remaining.
History of Texas Longhorns football
The 2008 Texas Longhorns started the season ranked eleventh nationally but moved to fifth and then first after beating Oklahoma. They retained their No. 1 status by beating top-ranked No. 11 Missouri and No. 7 Oklahoma State, until the Longhorns lost to No. 6 undefeated Texas Tech on a last-second, game-winning pass from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree. A later loss by the Texas Tech Red Raiders to the Oklahoma Sooners caused a three-way tie in the Big 12 South, between Texas, Tech, and OU each with only one loss to each other. The Big 12 tiebreaker would be decided by who was ranked highest in the final BCS standings. When released and the Sooners were ahead of the Longhorns by .0128 points, sending the Sooners to the Big 12 Championship Game and eventually the BCS National Championship Game, and the Longhorns to the Fiesta Bowl. At the conclusion of the regular season, Colt McCoy was one of the three finalists for the Heisman trophy along with Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford, who won the 2008 trophy. On January 5, 2009, the 3rd-ranked University of Texas defeated 10th-ranked Ohio State, 24–21, in the Fiesta Bowl in the third meeting between the two schools. With under a minute to play, Texas WR Quan Cosby caught the game-winning touchdown, ending the Longhorns' season with a 12–1 record at No. 3 in the AP Poll.