MIAMI GARDENS – Just as Presidential elections are usually a referendum on whether or not you are better off than four years ago, Thursday night’s Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida has turned into a referendum on which conference – the Big 12 or the SEC – is the dominant one today in college football.
Thursday night sometime just before midnight, either the Sooners will plant the Big 12 flag in Dolphin Stadium or the Gators will mark their home-state territory with the SEC’s third straight national championship. The two conference “parties” will get an argument, of course, from the third-party Pacific 10, which sent five games to bowls and brought home five triumphs, led by one-loss Southern California’s dominating victory over Penn State in the Rose Bowl.
But the very reason why the Trojans didn’t get any respect in the regular season – the collective, perceived weakness of the Pacific 10 teams they were playing – and the fact that the Pac-10 had only one representative among the 10 teams in BCS bowl games and the Big 12 and SEC each had two clearly should end that argument, even with Utah’s stunning upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Nevertheless, conference pride certainly will be the last thing on the minds of the Sooners and Gators and their coaches, Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer, respectively. Whichever team wins the game will make its coach the first one to win two BCS National Championships, a fact that neither coach said meant much to them during Wednesday morning’s final pregame press conferences for the game which will kick off sometime after 8 p.m. in front of the cameras of FOX Sports.
“Well, (it means) nothing unless we’re the one that wins it,” said Stoops, who coordinated the defense for Steve Spurrier’s 1996 Florida national champions and then got his own following the 2000 season with a 13-2 victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. A victory tonight would not only be his second national title as a head coach but leave his 10-year record in Norman at a mind-boggling 110-23, the same mark (and same number of national titles) as legendary Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who will be cheering his old team on from the sidelines.
Stoops, who grew up in the eastern Ohio city of Youngstown just an hour or so drive from the Ashtabula boyhood home of Meyer, will be coaching in his fourth BCS title game for Oklahoma. The Sooners lost 21-14 to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl following the 2003 season and then got embarrassed 55-19 the following season at the Orange Bowl to a Trojan team that featured the reigning. Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Matt Leinart and a future one in running back Reggie Bush.
Meyer, of course, is 1-0 in BCS title games thanks to Florida’s 41-14 butt-whipping of No. 1 Ohio State in Glendale, Ariz., two seasons ago. Meyer, who is a remarkable 43-9 in four seasons at Gainesville after successful two-year stints at Bowling Green and Utah (82-17 overall), admitted being humbled that either he or Stoops would do something no other coach as done in the BCS title-game era, a group that includes USC’s Pete Carroll, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and Miami’s Larry Coker.
“Other than that, I just worry about third down and 6 (yards) and making sure our punt teams is ready to go in,” Meyer joked.
It will be the second time that two Heisman Trophy winners will be meeting in a BCS title game. USC’s Matt Leinart outdueled Oklahoma’s Jason White in the 55-19 Trojan victory at Dolphin Stadium following the 2004 season.
This time, Oklahoma is led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford, who won the Heisman Trophy last month, beating out Big 12 rival Colt McCoy of Texas and the Gators’ Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman in 2007.
Both direct potent offenses. Oklahoma’s No-Huddle Sooner Express averaged 54 points a game and 562.1 yards a contest while often surpassing 85 plays a game. After losing 45-35 to Texas on Oct. 11, the Sooners ran off seven straight victories, the last five by scoring more than 60 points in each game, including the Big 12 title game, a 62-21 triumph over Missouri.
The 6-foot-4, 218-pound Bradford, who prefers to stay in the safety of his pocket (Oklahoma’s quarterbacks have been sacked just 11 times this season) than running around and running over people like the two-dimensional Tebow, threw for 4,464 yards and 48 of Oklahoma’s 97 touchdowns while completing 68 percent of his passes (302 of 442) with just six interceptions.
Bradford has plenty of weapons in his arsenal – two 1,000 rushers in Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray (who won’t play because of a torn hamstring) who totaled 34 rushing touchdowns between them; and three receivers who have double-digit touchdown receptions: slot man Ryan Broyles (16), 6-6, 261-pound tight end Jermaine Gresham (12) and wideout Joaquin Iglesias (10), the team’s leading receiver with 69 for 1,092 yards. Making it all go, of course, is a massive offensive line led by center Jon Cooper and (6-3, 290) and 6-8, 337-pound left tackle Phil Loadholt.
“What you see (watching film) is a good group of players executing at a high level,” said Meyer of the up-tempo Oklahoma offense that Stoops first grew enamored with while working under Spurrier at Florida. “We have to get lined up and get ready to go. That’s a problem. Their personnel is a problem. I’d like to play a team that does this with really bad players and it’s not a problem.”
Stoops, on the other hand, realizes his defense has to be sound to stop Tebow and the Gators. “Single wing or triple option, wishbone principles … you get it all with all the different directions,” he said. “You’ve got half your defense needing to defend this part and other half needing to defend if the ball comes back the other way.”
The rugged, 6-3, 240-pound left-handed Tebow, who played a pivotal role as a backup to Chris Leak on the 2006 national championship team, didn’t approach his mind-boggling statistic of his Heisman-winning season, when he totaled more than 4,000 total yards with 527 plays and figured in 55 touchdowns running and passing.
This season Tebow will be remembered for his “We-will-not-lose-again” speech following the Gators’ 31-30 loss in late September at home against Mississippi. And the Gators didn’t, winning their final nine handily, though Tebow had to manufacture two fourth-quarter touchdown drives in the Georgia Dome so Florida could dispose of No. 1 Alabama and earn its ticket here with a 31-20 victory.
Still, his numbers were good enough – he completed 65 percent of his 268 passes for 2,515 yards and 28 touchdowns against just two interceptions and ran just 154 times for 564 yards and 12 scores as Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, taking some time off from his new position as Mississippi State head coach, called his number 105 times less (422) less in 2008 in order to spread around the Spread offense plays.
Tebow’s favorite playpal, fellow junior Percy Harvin, amassed 16 touchdowns and 1,138 yards running and passing despite missing most of the Florida State game and all of the SEC Championship Game against Alabama with a high ankle sprain. The Baby Backs – freshmen Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps – totaled more than 1,200 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns between them, while nine different players had receiving touchdowns, led by senior Louis Murphy, who led the team with 36 receptions for 611 yards and six scores and is all recovered from minor knee surgery following the SEC Championship victory.
Sophomore tight end Aaron Hernandez (29 receptions, 5 TDs) was another favorite target and wide receivers Riley Cooper, David Nelson and Deonte Thompson totaled 10 touchdowns between them.
All of them are very athletic and seven of them with speed of 4.4 seconds or better in the 40-yard dash. They all operated behind an offensive line that Meyer said is the best he’s had in four seasons, led by the Pouncey twins (center Maurkice and right guard Mike) and bookend tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins, who both are listed at 6-6 and 310 pounds. The Gators have been averaging 45.2 points and 443.5 yards a game running about 20 plays less a game than Oklahoma.
Much of the pre-game focus since the teams last played on Dec. 6 has dealt with the team’s defenses. Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong has molded another formidable unit which ranks in the Top 10 in scoring (12.8 points a game) and total defense (279.3 yards a game) led by middle linebacker Brandon Spikes, defensive ends Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap and a ball-hawking secondary of cornerbacks Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins (a true freshman) and safeties Ahmad Black and Major Wright.
The Gators have produced 67 tackles for losses and 32 sacks with Dunlap leading in both categories with 12 and 9, respectively, and they have created 33 turnovers (24 interceptions and 9 fumble recoveries) led by Black’s six thefts and four by Spikes, who led the team with 87 tackles. Florida returned five of the interceptions for touchdowns, with Black and Spikes having two each.
Oklahoma’s defensive numbers don’t even match up. The Sooners are 57th in scoring defense (24.5 ppg) and only 58th in total defense (359.1), statistics that have taken a hit because Oklahoma has played against Top 10 offenses Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri this season.
“I know what has happened to Oklahoma is a little what has happened to us in the second half,” Meyer said. “Your backups are in there, you’re way ahead and they start throwing the ball over the place and you take a hit statistically. I see an excellent defense that we’re getting ready to face, especially when you look at the competitive snaps. They play at a very high level.”
Part of Oklahoma’s problems defensively has resulted from key injuries and tragedy. The Sooners have played a handful of people at middle linebacker (junior Mike Balogun will make his first start in the game) because of injuries. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman linebacker Travis Lewis, the team’s leading tackler with 136 including 19 against Texas, lost his young daughter after a premature birth.
The Sooners have managed to make 101 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including 42 sacks of the quarterback, and have 32 takeaways (17 interceptions and 15 fumble recoveries). Defensive end Jeremy Beal leads the team with 14 tackles for losses and 8.5 sacks. Free safety Lendy Holmes has a team-high six interceptions, while Lewis and corner Dominique Franks have four each. And there’s the talkative headhunter, Nic Harris, at strong safety.
Defense and special teams generally decide big games, and the Gators have traditionally been among the nation’s best at returning kicks and blocking them. Plus, the Gators have been good in making the opposition march the length of the field, something they hope will also slow down the Sooners.
“We’re very aware of the field-position game,” Stoops said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to execute and have it be in our favor.”
Oklahoma will have to contend with junior Brandon James, who has returned two punts for touchdowns this season and averages 14.1 yards every punt return and 23.7 yards on every kickoff. Meanwhile, the Gators blocked eight kicks, two by Dunlap and two by the speedy Demps on punts, so Oklahoma punter Mike Knall had better be prepared. The Gators, meanwhile, have won of the top punters in terms of length and hang time in Chas Henry, who had 20 punts downed inside the 20 and 13 punts of 50 yards or more.
“We have worked as hard at the kicking game the last three weeks as we have for the bowl game,” said Meyer, who is Florida’s unofficial special teams coordinator. “I don’t know how to say this other than I really believe for us to win this game or have a chance to win this game, we have to be dominant as far as field position and return yards. If we don’t do that, I don’t know if Florida can win this game.”
Spoken like any coach playing for the national title. Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer have become experts of doing that.