BCS National Championship Game Preview

In the interest of full disclosure, in case anyone doesn’t know, I
am a fan of the University of Florida Gators. I love Gainesville,
Florida as well. Also, I am a huge fan of the South Eastern
Conference, the other teams in the SEC are tough, fast, dedicated, and
steeped in tradition. SEC football games are my favorite sporting
event to watch or attend. So, if this preview seems biased at times,
you are probably right. I will try my best to be fair.

First let me address the Utah Utes nonsense. No way do they
deserve to be # 1, this is what irritates me about college basketball
as well, they played one of the weakest schedules in the NCAA, and the
idiot commentators fail to ever acknowledge it. They struggled to beat
New Mexico 13-10, same with TCU, they should have lost to, don’t bust
me up, Air Force. Then non conference they pulled out a riddle at
Michigan to beat that juggernaut 25-23. Toledo beat Michigan by a
larger margin.

Utah and Boise State have two choices if they ever want a serious
chance at playing in the title game. One, lobby and attempt to join
the PAC-10. This is possible. The PAC-10, particularly USC, is feeling
the pain of how weak the conference really is. Add Boise State, and
Utah with a championship game like the SEC, Big 12, ACC, even the MAC,
and Conference USA. Then Utah would be in the Nat..oh sorry, they
would have run into USC in a PAC-12 Championship Game. USC would be
in. As you see, Utah would want nothing to do with this scenario.

Second option, they could do what Bobby Bowden did when he took
over at Florida State when he earned the name “King of the Road”,
schedule tough non conference games away and win them. At that time
FSU was like Notre Dame an independent, so Bowden made sure his
Seminoles played tough opponents. Boise State gave it a whirl not long
ago “between the hedges” at Georgia, they got thrashed. Hawaii took a
56-10 pasting at Florida this year, yet Utah chose to play Weber State
at home. If they were serious about really wanting a shot at a
National Title they would not have squandered that week with such a
nonsensical opponent. The Mountain West isn’t a strong enough
conference for a team like Utah to waste a week on a team that is
Division 1 (formerly 1-AA). You see it’s a phony argument the Utes are
making, they want the trophy without doing the work. They would rather
just keep repeating “we’re undefeated” like it matters when all you
played this season are ass buckets. This is the one thing college
football has right that basketball doesn’t, schedule matters!

Now on to the teams that deserve to be there. I’ll start with the
top ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners start 4 seniors on the
offensive line, this is the key to their success on offense. Yes, Sam
Bradford is a great quarterback who deserved the Heisman Trophy.
Without a good, strong, experienced offensive line he would have had a
very different season. Bradford gets the ball to playmakers all over
the field. The scariest is tight end Jermaine Gresham (# 18), he is
6’6″, 251 pounds, with great hands. Gresham runs good routs, and is
very strong. He has 888 yards receiving this year and 12 touchdowns.
Receiver Juaquin Iglesias (# 9), and running back Chris Brown (# 29)
have also helped the Sooner offense set college football on fire this
season averaging 562.1 yards per game, and 54 points per game. That’s
the good news for Oklahoma.

The bad news for Oklahoma is their other running back DeMarco
Murray ( # 7) ruptured a hamstring in the Big 12 Championship Game and
will not play. Murray is a great player with 18 total touchdowns (4
through the air), 1002 yards on the ground, and almost 400 receiving.
This is going to hurt the Sooners, how much remains to be seen. Murray
opens up this offense, just watch the Oklahoma/Texas Tech game. Anyone
who knows sports has heard “defense wins championships.” The Sooners
better hope that’s a myth. The boast the 65th ranked defense in
college football. Duke is number 61. The give up an average of 359.1
yards per game, 106 of which are on the ground. They are going to face
a team in the Gators that has put a hurting on four of the top 15
defenses. This is a tall order for the Sooners defensive coordinator
Brent Venables.

The second ranked Florida Gators come into Miami on a roll. Since
losing to Ole Miss on September 27th, they have been on a rampage.
Ripping teams to shreds with their spread option attack, a signature
of head coach Urban Meyer. The Gators are very difficult to defend
because of the diversity of the offense. A different speedster gets
the ball every play. Junior quarterback Tim Tebow (# 15), last years
Heisman Trophy winner, and outstanding junior slot receiver/all
purpose back Percy Harvin (# 1) tend to draw hyper focus from
defenses. What that does is open up plays for some of the other dozen
or more Gators who run a sub 4.4, 40 yard dash. True Freshman running
back Jeff Demps (# 2) runs a 10.01 – 100 meter. Demps is no track star
playing football, he is a football player that can run track. He runs
downhill, is very hard to bring down, once he gets past the
linebackers he is gone. Senior receiver Louis Murphy (# 9) is one of
the afore mentioned burners, throw in tight end Aaron Hernandez (#
81), another pair of running backs with Chris Rainey (# 3), and USC
transfer Emmanual Moody ( # 21) it adds up to the third ranked offense
in the NCAA, a different Gator gets the ball virtually every single
play. Like the Sooners, Florida starts four seniors on the offensive
line, and the offense rushed for more yards this year than they passed
for. Tebow and his Gators take care of the ball as well. Tebow has
thrown only 2 interceptions to 28 touchdowns, and lost fumbles are
also rare at only 8 for the season.

Defensively the Gators rank 8th in the nation. The “X Factor” in
this game who will make big plays that will decide the game is Florida
middle linebacker Brandon Spikes (# 51). Spikes is a 6′ 3″, 245 pound,
fast, hard hitting, linebacker who reads offenses very well. He also
brings to the defense what Tim Tebow brings to the offense,
competitiveness and intensity. Spikes is the most underrated player in
the nation right now. When tonight’s game is over that may change. He
has almost 50 unassisted tackles, 4 interceptions with two returned
for touchdowns. The strength of the Gator defense is the linebacking
corps with deadly sideline to sideline pursuit. There will be six
linebackers play significant time for Florida. The defensive line puts
a premium on stopping the run so their challenge will be battling that
outstanding offensive line of the Sooners in an attempt to get
pressure on Bradford, which is easier said than done.

The Florida special teams are far and away better than the
Sooners. Junior kick/punt returner Brandon James (# 25) is a threat to
be gone in the flash of an eye. James averages 15.7 yards per punt
return, and 25.7 yards per kick return. Florida has blocked 6 kicks
this year as well.

This should be a game for the ages, either team could win this
game. USC, or Texas would be deserving of being in this game as well.
Playoffs in college football are coming, I promise. Because, this is
getting ridiculous. I would have never predicted a black president
before playoffs in college football though, so I could be wrong. I
have to give the edge to the Gators in this game, because of defense.
The Sooners defense will let them down, and it’s too bad because Coach
Stoops usually is a defensive master. The team speed of the Florida
defense is going to shock Oklahoma, the physical nature of the Gator
defense is going to shell shock the Sooners. By the time they wake up
it will be too late, Florida has outscored opponents this season
167-20 in the first quarter. They still have to play the game though,
as we all know games aren’t won on paper, it’s only the part of
getting to the big game that is done on paper.