Thursday, January 03, 2008
It's time for Tech to be a BCS bully for a change
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The reporter had an unusual question.
"What is snake wrangling?" he asked.
Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing looked at the reporter like ... well, like he'd just been asked what snake wrangling was.
"I don't know," Reesing said.
The reporter noted that "snake wrangling" was included as one of Reesing's hobbies in the Kansas media guide.
"Do you believe it?" Reesing said.
"No," the reporter said, asking the answer as much as stating it.
"You sure?" Reesing said. "Why not?"
The reporter was perplexed. This just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"Just tell me what it is if that's one of your hobbies," the reporter pleaded.
"Well, it's not a real hobby," Reesing said, smiling. "But it could be. Nah, I actually just put that down as a joke before the season started."
The exchange was light-hearted and silly, but it brings up a legitimate question: Just what are we to believe about these Kansas Jayhawks?
Are we reading all this information right? Are they really 11-1? Did they really put up 76 points against Nebraska in November? Did they really earn all these huge offensive numbers, or are those just a by-product of a schedule that ranks 74th in difficulty according to the NCAA?
In short, how much of this is real?
The Jayhawks are getting tired of hearing that, but Virginia Tech knows the feeling. After all, it wasn't long ago that Tech was the unknown program trying to claw its way into the national limelight. They know firsthand that Kansas needs no pep talk to find motivation for tonight's Orange Bowl.
The Hokies also understand that the Jayhawks are the media darlings of this matchup, all fresh, new and interesting. But that doesn't mean Tech doesn't have a worthwhile agenda.
If you're Tech, it's time for a role reversal. Time to start doing what Nebraska, Florida State and Auburn did to you in the past three Bowl Alliance or BCS appearances -- become the bully, and push the plucky underdog off the ladder. Time to make it clear that there's an obvious line between the true football powers and the rest, leaving no doubt which side you're on.
The same rankings -- available at www.ncaa.org -- that have Kansas 74th in schedule strength have Tech's schedule pegged as the toughest in the nation. In other words, the Hokies worked awfully hard to get here. And they're itching to shed the label of a team that struggles in bowl games.
"This game means a lot to us," Tech defensive end Orion Martin said. "People might think that [because] we come to a bowl game every year, we might not pay attention to this one, but we haven't won a BCS game in a while -- since '95, I believe.
"We need to show people that we can win a BCS game year in and year out. It could mean a lot to this program. It's probably one of the most important games since the '99 championship game."
It is. The Hokies have lost three of their past four bowl games, and the one they won was marred by a knee-stomping controversy that embarrassed the program and helped end Marcus Vick's college career. There haven't been a lot of good memories lately, including last year's Chick-fil-A Bowl that was won by Georgia 31-24.
"The Georgia game? I'll take a second to think about it," Tech cornerback Macho Harris said, when asked what he remembered about that experience. "We were up, what, 21-3 the first half, and then they came back? That hurt. But the past is the past. We'll leave it alone. That's the second that I'll talk about it, right there. Then I'll leave it alone."
Kansas doesn't want to look back, either. As Kansas coach Mark Mangino quipped on Wednesday, the Jayhawks are "a program that's had a tough century."
Until this season, anyway.
"This has been kind of revival for Kansas football," Reesing said. "The excitement that surrounds this program and this team now is at a height that it hasn't been in a long time."
A few minutes later, near the end of Reesing's interview, another reporter strolled up to join the conversation.
Like everyone else, he'd read Reesing's bio. But unlike everyone else, he had not heard the initial exchange about snake wrangling. He did not know it was a joke.
"How good are you at snake wrangling?" he asked.
Reesing looked at him in the eye. He kept a straight face as he uttered a one-word answer.
"Awesome," he said.
