Cincy's defense has been out on the field too long; they lose to Va. Tech 20-7!

It's approaching 36 minutes total, which is why Cincy is not able to get their offense back on the field.

A positive for Cincy: 1 of 7 Div. 1 programs to graduate over 90% of its athletes.

Va. Tech itself is 1 of 33 Div. 1 programs to graduate over 75% of its athletes, so these programs aren't just finding on-the-field success, but off the field as well.

Pike just threw his 4th interception - Pike has had a very poor night - 4 interceptions and being kept out of the end zone on a run Cincy needed to have.

That will do it - Va. Tech will break the ACC drought in BCS games and Va. Tech themselves will win their first BCS game since the 1995 Sugar Bowl against Texas. Va. Tech has won 10+ games for the fifth(?) straight year - only USC and Texas has done it more times in a row.

Pike's hesitation may have just cost Cincy!

Pike is stopped short of the goal line and Cincy does not score!

To me, Pike seemed to hesitate; if he would have dove for the endzone on the cutback, I think he has a good chance of getting in. But when he cut back, he hesitated, and that's what enabled Va. Tech to keep him out of the end zone.

In Pike's defense, he's not really a runner, so perhaps that's why he wasn't more aggressive on that run. But, in any case, Cincy's chances of winning may have gone up in smoke.

The roughing-the-kicker penalty has further sealed it. Cincy does have two timeouts left, but they can't afford any more mistakes if they have any chance of pulling this out.

Critical Point in this game!

Especially for Cincy, who didn't help themselves in terms of field position by giving up that long run up the middle.

We head to the 4th Q, 13-7, Virginia Tech.

Cincy will punt; Va. Tech takes over on offense near the end of the 3rd Q!

Cincy's drive stalls; their 2-time All-American punter Huber will punt it away and gets off a solid kick.

Va. Tech back on offense.

Pike gets a big 1st down for Cincy!

As mentioned, Cincy hasn't had much offense since that opening drive where they scored a TD. Their defense and Va Tech missing opportunities (due mostly to the wind) are the key reasons why Cincy is still in this game, only down 6.

Another big play for Cincy!

25 yards up the middle - effectively doubling their run total for the whole night on that run.

Cincy's streak of not running back a punt for a TD continues!

Cincy has the 2nd-longest streak (12 years) of not returning a punt for a TD; Cincy is fortunate that they still have the ball, as it was fumbled and recovered.

Tyrod Taylor a key reason why Va. Tech is leading!

Va. Tech's QB Tyrod Taylor is having a great game with both his legs and his arm. His ability to create on the ground AND with his arm has kept Cincy's defense from dominating too much (though they have mostly contained Va. Tech's ground game).

Cincy's Pike throws an interception!

Virginia Tech gets the ball back - Cincy's coach, Brian Kelly, is not thrilled with Pike, telling him he misread the coverage and should have thrown the ball elsewhere.

In fact, Pike is lucky he didn't get another interception tacked on in the first half; personally, I thought the Va. Tech defender DID catch that pass and got his hand, knee, and leg down inside the sideline, while ALSO having control of the ball. The referees thought otherwise and allowed Cincy to keep possession.

Pike, so far, is not having a good game and really needs to pick it up for Cincy to win their first BCS bowl game!

Virginia Tech going for another field goal - and gets it, barely!

Cincy is able to keep the Hokies out of the end zone.

V. Tech's kicker is just able to squeeze the kick inside the left upright, by a foot at most. 13-7, Virginia Tech, with about 8:30 left in the 3rd quarter.

Va. Tech leads Cincy in the 3rd Quarter 10-7!

There were some big plays in the first half, but due to a few turnovers and problems with the wind, the halftime score turned out to be 10-7 Virginia Tech, who scored a field goal off a Cincy turnover.

Right now, Va. Tech is driving, being at the Cincy 20.

Va. Tech does NOT score!

Cincy kept Va. Tech out of the end zone. Va. Tech's kicker, who has been under the weather, shanks the short field goal to the right - it remains 7-0 Cincy.

Va. Tech is on the move, out to the 50!

Virginia Tech is trying to answer Cincy's quick strike, as the Hokies are out to the 50!

This has the makings of being a high-scoring game - perhaps 28-24 was a bit conservative - only time will tell!

And another big pass play for Va. Tech - Cincy's defense doesn't look sharp in the early going!

Cincinnati strikes quickly!

Cincinnati has scored a TD with 13:08 left in the first quarter; that catch should stand as the foot was clearly in-bounds.

Virginia Tech's defense is ranked 7th overall, but has put its team in an early hole against the "Cinderella" Bearcats. 7-0 Bearcats.

This is the 75th Orange Bowl!

The 75th annual Orange Bowl has now begun, being broadcast by Fox.

A Matchup between two teams who met in their first bowl game!

Later tonight on January 1, #12 (BCS) Cincinnati Bearcats take on the #19 (BCS) Virginia Tech Hokies in the FedEx Orange Bowl. For the Bearcats, it's their first BCS Bowl and their tenth bowl game in school history. For Virginia Tech, it's their second straight BCS bowl game (they lost the 2008 Orange Bowl to the Kansas Jayhawks).

Two ironic things about this matchup:

1. Cincinnati and Virginia Tech were opponents in the very first bowl game for both teams, the 1947 Sun Bowl.

2. This BCS matchup between #12 and #19 is actually lower than the matchup featured in the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, #9 Boise State vs. #11 TCU (won by TCU).

While this matchup isn't as highly regarded as some of the other BCS matchups (like Penn State vs. USC, Ohio State vs. Texas, and Florida vs. Oklahoma), this should be an interesting matchup because neither team faced very strong schedules, so they should be fairly well-matched.

For Cincinnati, their schedule didn't include many strong opponents, with arguably their best victory being that over #20 West Virginia (who wasn't nearly as strong as they were during the 2007-2008 season). They beat some weaker teams such as Miami (Ohio), Akron, and Marshall but also fell to a relatively weak team in UConn 40-16 (though Cincy did lose their quarterback to numbness in his non-throwing hand). The one game of note in their schedule was a 52-26 loss to current #1 Oklahoma in the first week of their season (where they lost their first quarterback to injury).

As mentioned above, this is Cincy's first BCS bowl game in school history.

For Virginia Tech, this was considered to be a rebuilding year for them, having lost 12 starters from last year to the NFL Draft. Va. Tech lost early on to relatively weak East Carolina University, plus endured a 4-game losing streak that nearly prevented them from reaching the ACC Title Game, where they went on to beat Boston College for the second straight season. That win against Boston College or against Georgia Tech might be Va. Tech's best victory (and Georgia Tech just got crushed by LSU the other day 38-3, and LSU isn't the championship team they were a year ago), so again, Va. Tech's resume isn't all that impressive either.

The other bad trend that Va. Tech is going up against is the recent lack of success ACC teams have had in BCS bowl games, going 1-10. Additionally, Virginia Tech has not won a BCS bowl game since 1995 when they upset Texas in the 1995 Sugar Bowl, losing all 4 appearances in BCS bowl games since, including the aforementioned 2008 Orange Bowl to Kansas.

Therefore, I think this game will be a close one, no more than a 10-14 point margin of victory. I think either side could come out on top, but being that I like "Cinderella stories" and think that Cincy is not facing that strong of an opponent, I don't think their lack of experience will hinder them as much as say, Penn State, who is taking on USC. I think Cincy comes out on top of Va. Tech 28-24.