MIAMI (AP) — Eighth-ranked Kansas, greeted by fire trucks spraying water on its airplane, arrived in sunny Florida on Thursday in preparation for the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl against No. 5 Virginia Tech.
Despite doubts by critics who question the selection of Kansas in a BCS game, coach Mark Mangino insists his team deserves to be there.
“Since when is 11-1 not good enough to play in a BCS bowl?” said Mangino, the AP Coach of the Year.
Kansas will be playing in its first January bowl game since 1969. The Jayhawks were chosen over rival Missouri, which beat them 36-28 on Nov. 24 in the regular season finale.
Though Missouri was ranked two spots higher than the Jayhawks in the final BCS standings, Kansas received the BCS bid while the Tigers, who lost to Oklahoma twice, found themselves in the Cotton Bowl.
“I can’t be concerned about other teams because I don’t have control over other teams or the process,” Mangino said.
The 11 wins are a school record for Kansas, which was ranked as high as No. 2 by all four major polls on Nov. 18 before the loss to Missouri. Kansas has won 14 of its last 16 games dating back to last year.
“It’s been a great season,” said Mangino, in his sixth year at Kansas. “It’s arguably one of the best seasons ever, maybe the best ever at the University of Kansas, but it’s not over. We got one more game to play. This game is really important to our players. They want to play well and win on a national stage.”
Kansas traveled with only 33 of its 104 players Thursday on flight from Forbes Field in Topeka, Kan. The rest of the Jayhawks were allowed to fly to Miami on their own after spreading out across the country for the holidays. The team practiced Monday morning before getting time off.
The players were all smiles when they landed after leaving the 27-degree weather behind them in Kansas.
“The sun is hot, people were spraying water on the airplane, it was nice,” said fifth-year senior running back Brandon McAnderson. McAnderson, who rushed for 1,050 yards and 16 touchdowns while earning All-Big 12 second-team honors, is a key to a Kansas offense that ranks second nationally in scoring with an average of 44.3 points per game.
Virginia Tech (11-2) earned a spot in the Orange Bowl after beating Boston College 30-16 in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies have the nation’s second-best defense, allowing 15.5 points a game.
“They’re athletic, speedy, play very well on defense, great special teams, some really talented kids on offense, and it’s a very good team,” Mangino said.
Mangino compares his Kansas program to Frank Beamer’s Virginia Tech program as it began its rise in college football.
“We’re trying to change the way people think about Kansas football just the way coach Beamer changed the way people think about Virginia Tech football,” he said.
Mangino hopes the Orange Bowl is a sign of things to come for Kansas, which is 4-6 all-time in bowl games.
“It’s a start,” he said. “A lot of people think going to the Orange Bowl is the destination, but we’d like to think this is just the beginning for our program.”
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