2008-09 BCS Orange Bowl: #12 UC vs. #19 Virginia Tech

[Cyclone792]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigeast/0...inia-Tech.html

Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly and his players attended an on-campus rally around 8 p.m. Sunday to celebrate the Bearcats' bid to the Orange Bowl to play Virginia Tech.

It was pretty impressive, considering that the team had finished its last regular-season game in Honolulu about 3:15 a.m. EST, wrapping up a 29-24 win and then heading back home. And the players had to worry about final exams beginning on Monday.

"Sleep's not been something we've needed around here," Kelly said Sunday night. "We've got a lot to look forward to today. We'll worry about sleeping later."

The matchup between No. 12 Cincinnati (11-2) and the No. 19 Hokies (9-4) may not pique casual fans' interest. But it's far and away the biggest bowl game in Bearcats history, and Kelly has said his team takes seriously the responsibility of carrying the Big East banner. They know their league has won three straight BCS games, and they don't want to be the ones to end that streak.

The Bearcats last played Virginia Tech in 2006, losing 29-13 in Blacksburg. Kelly said his players were excited about getting to play the Hokies in Miami.

"Playing Virginia Tech and Frank Beamer and just the tradition of that program is a matchup that we're excited about," he said. "When you have that name recognition of Virginia Tech, it certainly enhances not only the game but the credibility of the opponent."

Cincinnati will begin bowl preparations next Monday. It will need to get two key players healthy. Star cornerback Mike Mickens underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after the Pittsburgh game, and leading receiver Dominick Goodman suffered a Grade 2 separation of his right shoulder early in the Hawaii game. Kelly said he expects both of them to play on Jan. 1.

"Something about the Orange Bowl and sunny weather gets those guys healthy quicker," he said.

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by Cyclone792

Anybody else heading down?

Several members of my family are heading down. They are and always have been, inexplicably, huge UC football fans despite the fact that only one of them went to school there (and didn't graduate). They've been season ticket holders since before I was born and have gone to every bowl they've played in during that time (which is what, like one? Two?). they are pretty beside themselves.

I will be in a cabin in the mountains of Maryland, most likely being cranky at not being able to watch the game. I've never been the world's biggest football fan but this is totally infectious.

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I will be in a cabin in the mountains of Maryland, most likely being cranky at not being able to watch the game. I've never been the world's biggest football fan but this is totally infectious.

You need you one of these:

[Redlegs23]

I'll be making the trip with a group of 11. And vatican, they've actually been to a lot of bowl games in the past 6 or 7 years, but none that even come close to being this big.

[redsbuckeye]

I went to my first UC game this year and wish I could go to this, but I'll just be getting back from a Vegas/San Diego trip and will be stuck watching it on TV.

[*BaseClogger*]

I also went to my first game at Nippert Stadium this year and came away very impressed. The campus is very clean and modern, and the stadium is a perfect size (excepting Ohio Stadium, of course ). I really like the setting it has with campus all around it and all of unique structures. The view of the game was great, but you still had the feel you were at a big time football game.

Probably the highlight though was being able to sneak in for free. We went in a building on the same side of the press box, walked to the far end, went down a suspicious looking staircase, exited through some doors at the ground level and we were beyond the gates. There wasn't a single person or sign to stop us. That would never happen at the Shoe...

[GoReds33]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I also went to my first game at Nippert Stadium this year and came away very impressed. The campus is very clean and modern, and the stadium is a perfect size (excepting Ohio Stadium, of course ). I really like the setting it has with campus all around it and all of unique structures. The view of the game was great, but you still had the feel you were at a big time football game.

Probably the highlight though was being able to sneak in for free. We went in a building on the same side of the press box, walked to the far end, went down a suspicious looking staircase, exited some doors at the ground level and we were beyond the gates. There wasn't a single person or sign to stop us...

I've done the same thing like four times. I found it last year for the Louisville game. What game are you talking about?

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by GoReds33

I've done the same thing like four times. I found it last year for the Louisville game. What game are you talking about?

Against Miami on September 20. It was a night game...

[GoReds33]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

Against Miami on September 20. It was a night game...

Okay. I'm a student this year, so it's not a big deal for a ticket. I have shootout tickets for this weekend. I miss the old days of coming down to the stadium trying to sneak in...

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by Redlegs23

I'll be making the trip with a group of 11. And vatican, they've actually been to a lot of bowl games in the past 6 or 7 years, but none that even come close to being this big.

Oh, then I guess they haven't been to all of them. They've been to at least two (I think Detroit and, uh, Alabama or Mississippi or somewhere). Maybe three. But they have one foot in Miami already.

[Cyclone792]

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/bl...120908aaa.html

Dec. 9, 2008

(9:57 a.m.): The live interview in front of a national TV audience and a few hundred fans at Fifth Third Arena had been completed and so had a long, long trip to Hawaii and back. There was scant time for sleep, and in about three weeks from that moment, the UC football team – for the first time in history – was going to play in a BCS bowl game.

Coach Brian Kelly, the face of this program since he stepped up to the microphone during his initial news conference at the Kingsgate Marriott after he had been hired, is one of the most wanted men in the country. His name has been linked to open jobs from the East to the Midwest to the Pacific Ocean. He’s become a nationally-known name, and scores of students can, at a moment’s notice, break into a Bri-an Kel-ly chant.

Yes, at the moment for Kelly and his team, life is good. So good that Kelly, as he’s done all year, makes light of the moment. Seated in the Fifth Third’s media room, where basketball coach Mick Cronin usually holds court after his Bearcats play, Kelly turned into a jokester after it was announced the Bearcats were going to the Orange Bowl.

“I thought our post play was lousy,” he said. “If we can ever get five guys shooting the ball, we might win a game or two. Sound familiar?”

The jokes, yes, they sound familiar. And Kelly – and the fans that follow his team – has a good reason to laugh and feel giddy.

During a season in which the Bearcats have blown a double-digit lead in less than 90 seconds, were outplayed and seemingly out of the game with 12 minutes to play at Hawaii, got a tad lucky to beat Akron on the road and have played five quarterbacks this season, they’ve made history.

Only Bearcats team to win 11 games.

Only Bearcats team to win at least 10 contests in back-to-back seasons.

Only Bearcats team to enthrall this city.

So, Kelly jokes and he makes you laugh (Kelly, for the record, is funny when he’s making a quick off-the-cuff remark to a question or comment. He can fall flat at times when he already has something planned). But aside from that, Kelly and his team makes you watch and then want to watch some more.

One of the first football games I covered when I moved to Cincinnati and began working for the Post was the 38-0 Pat White-washing of UC by West Virginia on that frigid Wednesday night four years ago. The thought I had to myself as I watched the end of that game on the beaten Bearcats sideline: this is isn’t real college football. I don’t know what this is, but it’s not real college football.

Four years later, UC is playing for a top-10 ranking and the respect of the rest of the country. It’s playing real college football at least.

This team is unusual. I don’t know if it’s extraordinary coaching or an inordinate amount of good luck or something else I can’t determine, but this type of team doesn’t merge together very often. It’s a team that clearly enjoys playing the game and enjoys playing that game with each other and for these coaches. It, for whatever reason, is something special.

“What I’ve done in 18 years as a head coach is I’ve had good teams and fun teams and teams that win games,” Kelly said. “The special teams are the ones that have that special fight in them, regardless of the situation they’re going to have. I’ve had a couple teams like that. This one is special. They have that special fight that they’re going to keep playing.”

Receiver Mardy Gilyard thinks of it like this: a couple hours before every game, a number of players and team officials gather around the 50-yard line in a circle, hold hands and pray. Gilyard can look to his left and look to his right and look straight ahead, and he sees one thing.

“I look in everyone’s eyes, and I can honestly say that in every game, I can see the hunger in their eyes, like they’re ready to go to war,” Gilyard said. “Not just to go out and battle for the sake of having a good battle, but going out and battling to win. That separates us from a lot of teams.”

[Cyclone792]

UC is moving tickets:

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/bl...121108aac.html

Dec. 11, 2008

(9:01 p.m.): Just got off the phone with Mike Waddell (well, it was a little while ago. I was at Trader Joe's when he called back), and he said the school has exceeded the 10,000 tickets sold mark for the Orange Bowl.

He seemed happy with that figure through four days of sales. I'm sure he'd be happier if he could bump up that number to about 15,000 tickets sold in the next week or so.

[Chip R]

How many tickets do they get?

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by Chip R

How many tickets do they get?

They've got 17,500 in their allotment so they're roughly 60 percent of the way there.

From what I'm hearing, many people are doing what I'm doing in getting tickets with a big group. Our group is 10 people, lots of other people are heading down in groups of 6, 8, 10, 15, even more. Chipping in with a group to split up the expenses isn't a bad way to go.

[Heath]

Good for UC. I hope they have a great showing.

I would also think that UC is the underdog here, so the casual fan might be good for the Red & Black.