Kansas University’s football team will have 39 consecutive days without playing a game before meeting Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

And it’s important – so important – that the Jayhawks are as crisp as ever when they take the Dolphin Stadium field to battle the fifth-ranked Hokies.

Unfortunately, things might not necessarily add up in that regard.

“You can say what you want,” KU offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “Practice speed is not game speed. You try to make it close, but it’s hard to have 45 days of game speed in practice.

“That’s why the opening day of the season is always interesting.”

Now, keep in mind that the No. 8 Jayhawks rolled over eventual MAC champion Central Michigan, 52-7, in the season opener on Sept. 1.

But to compare the Orange Bowl to the season’s first game in any way is bound to cause a wince; KU head coach Mark Mangino long has proclaimed his anxiety on opening night because of the inevitable rust.

Extra time to prepare will help as Kansas plays one of its toughest opponents yet in Virginia Tech. But trying to re-capture the intensity more than five weeks after last needing it is not a given for either team.

“That will be a challenge over the next month, to keep sharp with our timing,” Warinner said. “I think that’s always a challenge with the long layoff between true competition, especially now with these games after New Year’s.”

So goes an extra curveball in preparing for a bowl game. Some KU players still are feeling the grind of the 12-game regular season, so doing a two-a-days-type preparation in December isn’t smart.

Yet, the layoff forces the coaching staff to prepare differently than it would for the normal six-day window.

That’s one reason why bowl games, in all aspects, are unique.

“We’ll have a good plan, where it’s a good balance of rest and intense practices,” Warinner said. “We’ll have some intense practices. We have to. We’re playing a very good team. If we don’t bring our ‘A’ game, it’ll be tough.”

Meanwhile, KU’s coaches will have more time to make sure the players are in the right spots Jan. 3. The coaching staff has split its time between recruiting and Virginia Tech since learning of the matchup on Dec. 2. Film already has been dissected, a preliminary scouting report is together, and computer breakdowns have been worked on.

Now, players slowly will start watching the prepared film on the Hokies, in addition to getting back in the practice groove starting this week.

A blueprint is in place, and the hope is that it has the Jayhawks bringing everything together in unison by Jan. 3. If that’s the case, the machine that went 11-1 in the regular season will keep on humming.

If not, the season-opening mystique might make an appearance – something that nobody desires with so much at stake.

“I don’t think it’d be nearly like that,” defensive coordinator Bill Young said. “I think it will be a situation where we’ll keep them groomed in there a little bit.

“I think,” Young added, “we’ll be pretty tuned in.”