Boise State (12-0) vs. Oklahoma
(11-2)
January 1st,
8:00 p.m. ET, Fox
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Fiesta Bowl
Player Profile: Oklahoma QB Paul Thompson, team bowl history and more
It's O.K. to admit it. This is the BCS game you're sort of secretly
excited about.
Oh sure, you're fired up for the BCS Championship, the Rose Bowl is
the national title-caliber game most of the sports world is dying to
see, and the Sugar Bowl holds a sort of want-to-see-the-car-crash
interest when it comes to how Notre Dame might do against the speedy
LSU Tigers, but the 2007 Fiesta Bowl is something different.
It's not 2005 when Utah busted through and dominated a mediocre
Pittsburgh, and this isn't George Mason rumbling through the NCAA
basketball tournament on its way to the Final Four. Boise State
deserves to be on the national stage against the big, bad, Big 12
champion if for no other reason than as a reward for years of not
getting any national respect despite winning a whopping 85 games in
eight years.
|
|
National
Rankings |
|
Boise
State |
Oklahoma |
|
Total Offense |
|
11th 424.25 ypg |
42nd 365.77 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
14th 273.75 ypg |
17th 280.23 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
2nd 39.42 ppg |
26th 29.38 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
18th 15.58 ppg |
17th 15.31 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
6th 222.83 ypg |
21st 177.38 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
7th 82.00 ypg |
18th 97.85 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
55th 201.42 ypg |
70th 188.38 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
48th 191.75 ypg |
37th 182.38 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
12th 0.83 |
61st 0.00 |
|
Boise State
Sacramento
W 45-0
Oregon St
W 42-14
at Wyom.
W 17-10
Hawaii
W 41-34
at Utah W 36-3
La Tech
W 55-14
at NMSU
W 40-24
at Idaho
W 42-26
Fresno St
W 45-21
at SJSU
W 23-20
Utah State
W 49-10
at Nevada
W 35-7 |
Oklahoma
UAB
W 24-17
Washington
W 37-20
at Oregon
:L 34-33
MTSU
W 59-0
vs. Texas L 28-10
Iowa State
W 34-9
Colorado
W 24-3
at Missouri W 26-10
at Tex A&M
W 17-16
Texas Tech
W 34-24
at Baylor
W 36-10
at Okla St
W 27-21
Big 12 Championship
Nebraska W 21-7 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
BSU |
5
highest
1 lowest |
OU |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
4 |
|
5 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
3.5 |
|
4 |
O
Line |
5 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
4 |
|
4.5 |
Linebackers |
4 |
|
3.5 |
Secondary |
4.5 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
4.5 |
|
4.5 |
Coaching |
5 |
|
While Boise
State is more than just the little engine that could, it represents
all the little guys out there, all the non-BCS conference schools,
that dream of playing in the spotlight against the best of the best.
Oklahoma might not be Ohio State or Florida this year, but it's a
red-hot, big name team that the Broncos must play well against to
further the cause of college football equality. A 56-3 Sooner win
wouldn't necessarily mean a WAC, Conference USA or Mountain West
team won't get into the BCS again anytime soon, but it sure won't
help.
The Broncos have gone into the bowl season unbeaten before with a
11-0 2004 season finished up with a fantastic 44-40 shootout loss to
Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. For all the success and all the
conference titles under former head coaches Dirk Koetter and Dan
Hawkins, this year's team, under first year head man Chris Petersen,
might be the best yet with a swarming, tough defense and the
nation's number two scoring offense. Sure, you and ten friends could
hang 24 on just about any WAC team, but Boise State annihilated
Oregon State 42-14 and embarrassed Utah at Utah 36-3.
Boise State might be playing the Cinderella role, but Oklahoma is
also wearing a bit of a glass slipper this year overcoming the loss
of QB Rhett Bomar before the season began, a distracting,
controversial loss at Oregon, a loss to archrival Texas, and the
loss of all-world RB Adrian Peterson to a broken collarbone to win
eight straight including the Big 12 championship over Nebraska.
This isn't the up-and-down-the-field Sooners that went to two
straight national championship games. This is a tough, hard-nosed
team playing with as much confidence as anyone in America helped by
a an improved defense and an offensive line that went from a
liability to a strength over the course of a few months. There's not
a lot of flash or dash, and it's not a tight, mistake-free team,
either. It's a group that finds ways to win helped by, arguably, the
best coaching job Bob Stoops has come up with in his eight years.
Whoever wins will have earned its way to the Fiesta Bowl title and,
to over-dramatize the game's importance, will have set the tone for
the haves and the have-nots in college football. When all is said
and done, this might turn out to be one of the most important games
in BCS history.
Players to watch: Superman is back. With all apologies to
Troy Smith, the best player in college football, Oklahoma RB
Adrian Peterson, returns for what will likely be his one final
showcase game before heading off the NFL. Ranked by some scouts as a
sure-thing top five pick, and others, because of his injury issues
and upright running style, somewhere around the ten to 15 range,
Peterson is taking a multi-million dollar gamble to play one last
time. It could pay off big time if he cranks out a huge game and
shows everyone why he was so great in the first place. If nothing
else, it'll be a shot to see one of the great running back talents
of the last several years to show off his stuff again in a Sooner
uniform.
If recent games are any indication, Peterson should go ballistic
thanks the holes the offensive line have opened up for backups
Allen Patrick and Chris Brown. Left tackle Chris
Messner, left guard George Robinson, center Jon Cooper,
right guard Brandon Walker, and right tackle Trent
Williams have stepped up their play over the last several weeks
allowing just 15 sacks on the year and paving the way for anyone who
was running the ball. Messner is the lone senior, Williams is a
freshman, and the rest are sophomores combining with 260-pound
junior Joe Jon Finley to form what should be one of the most
dominant lines in college football over the next few years.
The OU line might be tremendous, but the Boise State front five
isn't exactly full of stiffs. The best offensive lineman in the game
might be 6-6, 315-pound sophomore Ryan Clady, who'll have the
job on the left side of handling the Sooner star pass rushers C.J.
Ah You and Larry Birdine. On the national stage, this
could be the game Clady shows the NFL scouts that he deserves early
round scrutiny over the next few years.
With the return of Peterson, Boise State's Ian Johnson has
become the forgotten man. All he did was finish second in the nation
in rushing averaging 147 yards per game while tearing off 24
touchdowns despite missing a game with a lung injury. He made a
national statement against Oregon State running for 240 yards and
five touchdowns, and he carried the offense past Nevada to close
things out with a three score day. He's fast, tough, and has another
gear once he gets into the secondary. As good as veteran QB Jared
Zabransky and the BSU passing game is, Johnson needs to have a
huge day.
Boise State will win if...
it quickly forgets it's playing
Oklahoma. Boise State can play. This is not some fluke or some
one-year wonder; this is a veteran team that's won championship
after championship by answering every challenge and playing with
near flawless execution mostly when everyone assumes it's going to
get steamrolled. Fine, so the team isn't full of a who's who of NFL
prospects like Oklahoma, but Korey Hall, Colt Brooks, Andrew
Browning, and the rest of the defensive front seven are all good
enough to hang tough against the pound Sooner running game, and the
offense can certainly put up points if it gets into a groove. Boise
State has to play its game getting the ground attack moving and not
making any big mistakes offensively, and has to take advantage of
every break from a Sooner offense that's been a bit too careless
with the ball. Oregon State, Nevada and Utah aren't Oklahoma, but
they can play, and Boise State beat those three like a drum. As long
as the confidence is there, Boise State has a shot. A few early
errors and memories of the disastrous 48-13 loss to Georgia in the
2005 opener will quickly resurface.
Oklahoma will win if... it gets up right off
the bat. Momentum and confidence should mean everything in a game
like this. The longer Boise State thinks it can hang around, the
better it'll play in the second half. No team jumps all over errors,
or puts the foot to the throat after getting an opening, like the
Broncos do. OU isn't consistent enough offensively to rely on the
passing game to get back in the game if the Broncos are winning by
two scores late. However, this BSU secondary can be beaten as long
as the OU offensive line does its job and keep the good BSU pass
rush at bay. As long as QB Paul Thompson doesn't force anything, and
as long as Peterson is cranking out four, five, eight yards a crack,
and as long as the turnovers are kept to a minimum, Oklahoma should
be able to win without too much of a problem.
What will happen: Any thoughts of Oklahoma being caught in a
letdown or not putting up a top effort blew away the second Peterson
announced he was ready to play. You think the Sooners are going to
tank or take Boise State lightly when its mega-star is literally
risking his livelihood to play with his friends and teammates? Boise
State will have its moments, and it's not going to embarrass itself
by any means, but the Sooners will do what they've done over the
last several weeks and methodically win the battles on the lines and
get enough key plays midway through the game to keep at an arm's
length distance. Boise State's passing game won't be effective
enough against the OU secondary to come back in the fourth quarter.
Line: Oklahoma -7.5 ... CFN Prediction:
Oklahoma 27
... Boise State 17
