2008 Orange Bowl
The 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Kansas Jayhawks on January 3, 2008, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spread bettors favored Virginia Tech by three points, but in a game dominated by defensive and special teams play, Kansas defeated Virginia Tech 24–21. The game was part of the 2007–2008 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season and was the concluding game of the season for both teams. This 74th edition of the Orange Bowl was televised in the United States on FOX and was watched by more than eight million viewers.
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.