FanHouse Orange Bowl

The crystal football is here through at least January of 2015. Its not exactly the most shocking news around, but certainly a burr in the side of college football playoff advocates as the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls will remain with the BCS through 2014. This effectively shelves any possibility for a playoff until the 2014-2015 college football season at the earliest.

The agreement provides for at least one more BCS Championship Game at each of the four venues once the old agreement runs out after the 2009-10 season. This news, paired with the crossover from Fox Sports' woeful BCS coverage to ESPN/ABC after next season should perk up the BCS after a rough few years.

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Orange Bowl (Miami, Florida), which pits Virginia Tech against Cincinnati.

Overview/Matchup: Welcome to the showdown of the century, folks. It's the ACC (Va Tech, BEAMERBALL!) versus the Big East (Cincy, Who?) in a matchup that will determine what major conference was most inept in 2008? The Hokies, as you can see from the capitol letter phrase above, win by playing hard-nosed defense and special teams, and creating turnovers. Cincy wins because Jerry Kelly is a freaking magician.

Hotels: Bowl-travelers descending on Miami will be glad to know that the best spots in town are just a mile or two from the stadium. Many of the finest hotels, restaurants and clubs are in the bay-front area. For luxury accommodation, we recommend the Mandarin Oriental Miami. The hotel's design combines Asian simplicity with Miami flare and the service is world-class. Renovated and rebranded in June of 2008, the Hilton Miami Downtown offers better service and newer guestrooms than most other midrange hotels in the downtown area. Be sure to check out La Brisa Bistro, the hotel's restaurant serving Cuban-accented meals with international flare. If budget is your primary concern, the Rodeway Inn Miami Airport is the spot for you. Accommodations are limited, but the property offers rooms for less than US$100 per night.

The thing that stinks about the BCS Selection Show is that, while it's always fun to see mysterious computer rankings unveiled to the public on national television, it's not like March Madness' seeding process, because we more or less already know who's going to end up where. To wit: most of what FOX had to offer in the way of entertainment involved fast-paced graphics, a little screaming, and ultimately the exact matchups we all thought we would see.

BCS National Championship -- Oklahoma Sooners vs. Florida Gators

The Sooners and Gators were named as the pair of teams that will compete for the BCS championship and nearly unalienable right to almost absolutely proclaim themselves the best team in the nation. But, all skepticism aside, it's worth noting that this will be a pretty spectacular game to watch, provided you enjoy seeing lots of offense.

Allstate Sugar Bowl -- Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Utah Utes

Talk about disappointing -- Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide went undefeated all season long until they finally lost a game to the Florida Gators ... in the pre-postseason SEC championship game. And, as a result of all their hard work, the Tide get to play Utah, who, as a non-BCS conference team, is back in the BCS mix again. This time they're without Urban Meyer, and pardon me for being a jerkstore, but an upset Alabama team (with only one loss and somehow unable to play for the championship) is going to throttle-job them.

Among the greatest travesties of this past season has been the rambutan-like Donna Shalala abandoning the Orange Bowl and moving the Miami Hurricanes to Dolphins Stadium. Sure, the Orange Bowl was an old, creaking facility that hadn't actually hosted the "Orange Bowl" since 1999, and not regularly since 1995. Yes, the control room once caught fire. It was still the OB, the lovable old deathtrap of college football. And they served beer.

Recognizing the need for significant accommodations, Dolphins Stadium announced their plan for Hurricanes games to the Miami-Herald. The laundry list is far too long to share here, but rest assured it's as expansive as Canes fans could have hoped for in light of seeing their venerable stadium cast aside and demolished.

Chief among the updates are concealing the Dolphins' Ring of Fame with a removable wrap that celebrates the storied history of the U, and a continuation of the OB's alcohol policy, where fans may buy beer until the end of halftime.

Wise move, committee members. While it's neat that you're offering "more formalized player autographs than we've ever done" or whatever, you're welcoming fans who spent decades in a stadium made of concrete, Elmer's glue, exposed nails, and fear. Give them a sanitized stadium 14 miles from campus and take away their booze, and rest assured, they will not come.