Fat = Phat?

Before I get too far into the Orange Bowl match up between the Jayhawks and Hokies, an observation. When Mark Mangino was first hired everyone worried about his weight and how he could motivate young men being in that condition. When he showed he was an excellent motivator, people blamed his weight for the lack of big time recruits he was landing. This was comical indeed since Kansas has never landed big name recruits. Now that he's Coach of the Year and leading his team to a BCS game I think it's time his weight get a little bit of the credit.

Mangino is becoming somewhat of a cult legend. On Sportscenter they refer to the Fighting Mangino's, there are shirts in the crowd at every home game referring to his weight, announcers struggle not to laugh when he's shown on TV. Some people may think this is embarrassing to the school, but when searching for reasons that Kansas received an Orange Bowl bid and not Mizzou how can you not consider the celebrity of their coach? That's right, dollar signs.

Now on to the game, Kansas has caught a lot of flack for not deserving to be here and I think that plays right into the Fighting Mangino's hands. All year long they've heard how they aren't for real and they'll continue to hear it until game time. I think they'll struggle offensively early and expect Va Tech to have the edge in special teams. However, I don't see the Hokies moving the ball at all. When I looked at the line for this game the Hokies being favored by 4 didn't surprise me but the over/under of 54 certainly did. The only way this game can get to 54 is if Kansas scores 30 I believe.

In the end, I think this is a low scoring close game that's probably decided by one or two really huge plays. A Va Tech special teams TD, an Aqib Talib pick six, something like that will determine the winner. Considering the stature of the programs, you'd have to guess the Hokies are more likely to have that big play go their way....but they've won just as many BCS games as the Jayhawks, zero. Still, it's hard not to go with Va Tech

Hokies 19, Jayhawks 17