2009 BCS Championship
Florida (12-1) vs. Oklahoma (12-1)
Jan. 8, 8:00 p.m. ET, Fox
Payout:
$17 million Location:
Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
-
2008 BCS Championship
Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
Alright, fine. If you’re going to go on résumés and what actually
happened on the field this season, bowl games included, this game
should probably be Utah vs. Texas. Utah is the nation’s lone
unbeaten team, beat the team that beat USC, and throttled the
Alabama team Florida struggled to get by. Texas, of course, beat
Oklahoma.
However, in lieu of a playoff, if you’re going to go by the two most
impressive teams this college football season, and if you’re going
to go with the two teams you
think
are the two best in America, with all due respect to USC, it’s
almost impossible to argue against Florida vs. Oklahoma. When all is
said and done, the winner of this game will be the national
champion.
Period.
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Florida |
Oklahoma |
|
Total Offense |
|
17th 442.38 ypg |
3rd 562.08 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
8th 279.31 ypg |
63rd 359.08 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
3rd 45.15 ppg |
1st 54 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
4th 12.85 ppg |
58th 24.54 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
11th 229.77 ypg |
18th 205.54 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
15th 105.31 ypg |
16th 106 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
62nd 212.62 ypg |
3rd 356.54 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
16th 174 ypg |
98th 253.08 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
2nd 1.69 |
1st 1.77 |
|
Florida
Hawaii W 56-10
Miami W 26-3
at Tenn W 30-6
Ole Miss L 31-30
at Arkansas W 38-7
LSU W 51-21
Kentucky W 63-5
Georgia W 49-10
at Vandy W 42-14
S Carolina W 56-6
The Citadel W 70-19
at Fla St W 45-15
SEC Champ
Alabama W 31-20 |
Oklahoma
Chattanooga W 57-2
Cincinnati W 52-26
at Wash. W 55-14
TCU W 35-10
at Baylor W 49-14
Texas L 45-35
Kansas W 45-31
at Kansas St W 58-35
Nebraska W 62-28
at Tex A&M W 66-28
Texas Tech W 65-21
at Okla St W 61-41
Big 12 Champ.
Missouri W 62-21 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
F |
5
highest
1 lowest |
O |
|
5 |
Quarterbacks |
5 |
|
4 |
RBs |
3.5 |
|
5 |
Receivers |
5 |
|
4.5 |
O
Line |
5 |
|
4.5 |
D
Line |
4 |
|
4.5 |
Linebackers |
4 |
|
5 |
Secondary |
2.5 |
|
5 |
Spec
Teams |
3.5 |
|
5 |
Coaching |
5 |
|
For all the weeping and gnashing
of teeth done this bowl season
from teams that think they
should be No. 1, this is it.
This is the big show. This is
the game featuring the two
champions from the two best
conferences in college football,
with Florida finishing the
season with an average margin of
victory of 32.3 points per game,
and Oklahoma closing out the
final six games, including wins
over Nebraska, Texas Tech,
Oklahoma State and Missouri, by
averaging 62.3 points per game.
This is the game that’ll either
make it three straight
championships for the SEC, and
two in three years for Florida,
or it’ll mean Oklahoma would be
the program of the decade with
its seventh BCS appearance, 103rd
win, and second national title,
in nine years.
This is the game featuring the
last two Heisman Trophy winners,
a whole mess of future NFL
starters, and two coaches
looking to join the elite of the
elite fraternity of current head
coaches with two national titles
(Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden,
Dennis Erickson, and debatably,
Pete Carroll, being the others).
This is the game for the
national championship, and it
has all the makings of a
classic.
It’ll be asking a lot to live up
to an ultra-solid BCS season,
and a good year overall for the
bowl games, but these two teams
have the firepower, the
attitude, and the ridiculous
stockpile of athletes to put on
a great show. What’s more,
unlike the last several national
title games, this one is almost
a toss-up with several questions
needing to be answered to
finally put some perspective on
the season.
Was the Big 12 overrated? It
certainly seems that way after
the bowl season, and that would
be confirmed by a big Florida
win. Can the OU offense be
stopped? Will Florida have
enough offense to keep up in a
shootout? Is the young Gator
defense ready to handle the
barrage? Is Tim Tebow good
enough to outslug Sam Bradford,
and will the voters wish they
could take back their Heisman
ballots? And most importantly,
which team’s phenomenal season
will be validated?
Florida had one hiccup in a
31-30 loss to Ole Miss, which
appeared to be a disaster at the
time, but now, especially after
the Rebels destroyed Texas Tech
in the Cotton Bowl, seems
completely forgivable. The
Gators dominated, but they
allowed one big pass play, had
an extra point blocked, had two
sure touchdowns just miss on
slight Tebow overthrows, and
they were stuffed on a fourth
down play. If any one of those
things had gone the other way,
Florida is the unbeaten No. 1
team at the moment. Despite
facing 10 bowl teams (not
including Tennessee and
Arkansas) Florida wasn’t
challenged by anyone out than
Ole Miss until the SEC title
game. All 12 wins were by 11
points or more, 11 of the wins
were by 20 points or more, and
between the Rebel loss and the
Bama win, a span of eight games,
only Vanderbilt, in a 42-14
loss, came within 30. In other
words, Florida was special.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma had one bad
half against Texas, and then it
put on an offensive display
never seen before in the history
of college football. Only 18
teams averaged 35 points or more
per game; the 35 scored against
Texas and TCU represent the low
points for the OU offense. The
Sooners scored more in their
final seven games than 80 teams
scored all season long. To be
even more absurd, they scored
more this year than Army,
Washington, Washington State and
Wyoming combined. The bar
has been set high for Bradford
and the perfectly run attack,
and while the offense likely
won’t score 60 on the Gators,
it’ll take a big-time effort to
keep it in check.
For a few hours, all the
debates, all the question marks,
and all the controversies will
be thrown aside, and these two
magnificent teams will play a
Super Bowl-like game at the
highest of levels. After two
straight Ohio State duds, this
should set the bar high for
future BCS Championship games.
Players to watch:
Left tackle Phil Loadholt,
left guard Duke Robinson,
center Jon Cooper, right
guard Brandon Walker, and
right tackle Trent Williams.
These five Sooners form the
nation’s best offensive line and
they’re the reason the offense
is as high-powered as it is. Of
course, Sam Bradford has
a lot to do with it, and there
are talented backs and receivers
ready to step in at any time,
but because everyone has all the
time they need to operate, the
offense is unstoppable. The
attack is designed to get the
ball out of Bradford’s hands in
a hurry, and while the system
helps keep the sack total down,
the ability of the front five to
limit the pressure in the
backfield, while giving a future
top five NFL draft pick an extra
half-tick to work, has led the
way to the historic season. The
massive 6-8, 337-pound Loadholt
and 6-5, 335-pound Robinson will
be multi-millionaires in a few
months, while the 6-5, 308-pound
Williams is the team’s most
talented lineman. On the year,
this group has allowed just 11
sacks and paved the way for 206
rushing yards per game.
For Florida, all eyes will be on
the ankle of Percy Harvin,
the magnificent receiver who can
break a game open at any time.
The 5-11, 195-pounder might seem
slight on the field, and he has
a problem staying healthy, but
he’s strong, compact, and if a
flash of lightning whenever he
gets the ball in his hands
averaging 8.8 yards per carry
while catching 35 passes for 595
yards and seven scores. He
missed the opener against Hawaii
and the SEC title game against
Alabama, and while he says he’s
at around 90%, he’ll have to
show he can last the entire game
with the OU defense focusing
most of its efforts on keeping
him in check.
Of course, the main focus of the
game will be on the two stars:
Tim Tebow and Sam
Bradford. Tebow, with a
Heisman and a national title,
albeit in a supporting role,
under his belt can start to lay
claim to being the greatest
college quarterback of all-time
if he’s able to pull off the
win. He wants to turn pro early,
but will likely be considered no
better than a late second round
pick and will likely return. On
the other side, Bradford might
be a Detroit Lion in late April.
He’s 6-4, 218 pounds with a
tremendous command of a timing
offense that suits his talents
perfectly. While he’s not the
runner Tebow is, Bradford is
hardly immobile, running for 65
yards and five touchdowns on the
year. Most importantly, he
rarely takes sacks because of
his ability to get the ball out
of his hands in a hurry and his
mobility to escape danger.
Bradford’s numbers are
astounding. He has thrown just
one interception, along with 25
touchdown passes, in the seven
games since the Texas loss when
he threw for 387 yards and five
touchdowns. While he didn’t put
up Graham Harrell-Texas
Tech-like passing numbers, he
went over 300 yards in every
game but two, and in one of the
games (Chattanooga) he was done
at halftime. In two years,
Bradford has thrown for 7,585
career yards and 84 touchdowns
with 14 interceptions. The
Heisman winner wasn’t always
sharp, he struggled a bit
against Kansas State, but he
doesn’t make mistakes and he has
an uncanny knack for always
coming up with the big throw
when needed.
Bradford led the nation in
passing efficiency in each of
the last two years, while Tebow
finished second last season and
fourth this year. While he’s not
considered the passer Bradford
is, Tebow has only thrown two
interceptions on the year,
neither one mattered, and 28
touchdown passes with two
scoring throws or more in every
game but the loss to Ole Miss
and the season opener against
Hawaii. Of course, Tebow has
made his living as a runner with
1,928 career yards and 43
touchdowns, and while he’s a
bull for the hard yards, he’s
not speedy enough to take off
when he gets into open spaces.
Oklahoma will let him try to run
rather than take a chance on
Harvin, or one of the other
Florida speedsters, breaking one
open.
Florida will win if... it
hits Bradford. Carlos Dunlap
and Jermaine Cunningham
aren’t going to beat the
Oklahoma tackles on a regular
basis, but they’re good enough
to make a few plays here and
there in the backfield. There
were only two teams this year
that made Bradford finish with
negative rushing yards, TCU and
Texas, and those were the two
games OU was held to under
points. Of the 11 sacks allowed
by the Sooners, seven were
allowed in those two games;
Florida has to get Bradford at
least three times, or at least
make him hurry. The Horned Frogs
were able to get four sacks and
nine tackles for loss, mainly
because the Sooner offensive
line had to spend so much time
keeping Jerry Hughes in check,
and Texas came up with three
sacks with Brian Orakpo getting
two.
Florida has score early and take
advantage of a potentially rusty
Sooner attack. With more than a
month to prepare, the Gator
coaches should be able to come
up with a wrinkle or two that
Bradford hasn’t seen, while the
OU offense might take a little
while to warm up. High-octane
offenses with a long layoff
before dealing with good
defenses, tend to lose a little
bit of the timing and the
precision they had when the
regular season ended. Colt McCoy
and the Texas passing attack
didn’t get rolling until the
second half against Ohio State
in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas Tech
had one really good, crisp
scoring drive in the first three
quarters in the loss to Ole Miss
in the Cotton Bowl and
Missouri’s Chase Daniel was off
all game long in the win over
Northwestern in the Alamo.
Bradford and the offense will
eventually get rolling and it
will put points on the board,
but if it take a few drives to
get there, Florida had better
have a lead.
Oklahoma will win if... it
forces Florida mistakes and if
it keeps the running game under
wraps. Oklahoma leads the nation
in turnover margin. Florida is
second. On the year, the Gators
gave the ball away just 11 times
with three of the turnovers, all
fumbles, coming in the loss to
Ole Miss. Florida also struggled
to get the ground game going
against the great Rebel
defensive front, finishing with
124 yards. It’s no coincidence
that the three other struggles
the Gators had, relatively
speaking, were against Miami,
Tennessee and Alabama; the three
games when the offense wasn’t
quite clicking. Florida has
several backs at its disposal,
led by Jeffrey Demps and Chris
Rainey, and Oklahoma has to keep
them from finding a groove. If
the offense is Tebow left, Tebow
right, Tebow up the middle, the
Sooners aren’t going to argue.
Considering how quickly Bradford
and the OU offense can strike,
the defense will be more than
happy if Florida is plodding.
In an emotionally-charged game
like this will be, the easiest
way to calm things down will be
to let the line do the work, and
no one outside of Alabama has
been able to do that on Florida.
OU should be able to. Alabama
had Florida dead-to-rights in
the third quarter of the SEC
Championship by pounding away on
a key long drive to take the
lead. Even without DeMarco
Murray, OU can’t be afraid to
try to win with the running game
by using its big, NFL-caliber
offensive front to control the
tempo early until Bradford and
the passing game start working.
What will happen:
Traditionally, the more
well-rounded teams tend to win
national championships over the
ones that are known for their
high-powered offenses. Whether
it’s Florida State losing to
Oklahoma in the 2001 Orange
Bowl, Miami having a hard time
getting going against Ohio State
in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, Troy
Smith and Ohio State getting
shut down cold by Florida in the
2007 BCS Championship, or Jason
White and the Sooners losing to
LSU in the 2004 Sugar Bowl,
teams that have the defense and
special teams to go along with a
good offense, if not an
explosive one, win. That’ll be
the case for Florida as the
defense does just enough to give
Bradford a hard time by swarming
the receivers and keeping the
big plays to a minimum. Expect a
repeat of what Ohio State did
against Colt McCoy in the
Fiesta, up until the game
deciding play, by letting
Bradford make his throws before
blasting the receivers to force
several third down chances.
Florida will find a decent
enough balance offensively, and
will dominate on special teams,
to make it three in a row for
the SEC.
CFN Prediction:
Florida 38 … Oklahoma 27 … Line:
Florida -3