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.
New Orleans Bowl
Due to damage by Hurricane Katrina to the Superdome, where the game is usually played, the 2005 game was played in Lafayette, Louisiana, at Cajun Field on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and was dubbed the New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette. The game returned to the Superdome for the 2006 edition, with a new corporate sponsor in freight company R+L Carriers, renaming the game the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. That game was won by Troy, co-champions of the Sun Belt Conference, over Rice, making their first bowl appearance since the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl.