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 Humanitarian Bowl
For the 2008 season, the ACC possessed nine tie-in games. The Orange Bowl was the conference's BCS game and granted an automatic bid to the winner of the ACC Championship Game. The Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia had the first-pick of eligible ACC teams after the BCS game, followed by the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida and the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee; the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina; and the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, California submitted their preferences together, and selected in that order if an agreement between them could not be reached. A special clause also guaranteed that, with a minimum of eight wins, the loser of the championship game would be selected no lower than by the Music City Bowl. The Humanitarian Bowl had the eighth-overall choice followed by the inaugural EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C.