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.
2008 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 2008 Kansas Jayhawks football team (variously "Kansas", "KU", or the "Jayhawks") represented the University of Kansas in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the school's 119th year of intercollegiate football. The team was looking to continue the success of the prior season in which they lost only a single conference game and went on to win the Orange Bowl. In the ninth week, after defeating Kansas State 52–21, the Jayhawks became Bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive year, a school record. Also, for the first time in school history, Kansas made back-to-back appearances in a Bowl game after accepting the invitation to play in the Insight Bowl versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The team finished the regular season with a victory over their archrival, the Missouri Tigers (who was then ranked 13th in the BCS Poll), in the Border War. The Jayhawks concluded the season with an 8–5 overall record (4–4 in the Big 12 Conference).