Gators Outslug Oklahoma for National Championship

By JC De La Torre

It wasn't the game the world expected, but it still was one heck of a ballgame as the Florida Gators won a defensive battle against the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 for Florida's second national championship in three years and their third in school history. The Gators' victory made it three consecutive national championships for the Southeastern Conference, something that hasn't been done since the 1940's. It was Florida's defense and the playmaking of 2007 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow that were the difference in this game.

Oklahoma took the opening kickoff to the Florida 38 but a sack by Brandon Hicks on the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford lost 14 yds and on third down the Sooners only managed 7 yds forcing the Sooners to punt. The Gators drived to midfield, but Tebow threw only is third interception of the season as defensive back Nic Harris stepped in front of a Gator wide receiver and returned it to the Oklahoma 46 yd line. Normally, this is an easy score for the highest scoring offense in college football but the Gators defense stiffened, forcing the drive to stall at the Florida 47. Two drives, no points for the vaunted Oklahoma offense and the first quarter ended scoreless.

Back came the Gators, driving 86 yds in 12 plays, capping the drive off with a 20 yd Tebow touchdown pass to Louis Murphy to give Florida a 7-0 lead. Oklahoma's offense rumbled to life on the ground. Chris Brown rushed for 16 yds, then 14 yds, and 15 yds to set up Sam Bradford's 6 yd score to tie the game at 7.

The Sooners would take momentum, intercepting Tebow for the second time this time big defensive tackle Gerald McCoy dropping into coverage and intercepting an under duress Tebow pass, setting Oklahoma up at the 28 yd line. The Sooners tried to pound the Gator defense, running Chris Brown on five straight carries. The Gators put together two goal line stands, stuffing Brown on 3rd and 4th and goal from the 1 yd line. Florida took over at their three yard line and Percy Harvin promptly ran 45 yds to get the Gators some breathing room. With 2:32 left in the 1st half, Oklahoma got the ball back and drove 74 yds on the arm of Bradford, driving all the way to the Florida 6 yd line with 10 seconds left. On first and goal, Bradford's pass to the goal line was tipped and picked off by Major Wright, keeping the game tied at 7 going into halftime.

The start of the third quarter continued the defensive team as the teams exchanged punts on their first possessions of the 2nd half. Florida began pounding the middle of the tougher than expected Oklahoma defense with their battering ram - their star quarterback Tebow. Tebow's runs drove Florida 75 yds in 13 plays, setting up Percy Harvin's 1 yd plunge to give the Gators a 14-7 lead with 4:21 left in the third quarter. Oklahoma tried to answer as Bradford drove the Sooners to the Florida 32 before the drive stalled. Oklahoma kicker Jimmy Stevens attempted a 49 yd field goal but it was blocked by Carlos Dunlap. Florida couldn't take advantage, having their drive stall at their own 38 yd line as the third quarter expired.

Bradford took advantage, driving his offense 77 yds and setting up an 11 yd touchdown pass to tight end Jermain Gresham to tie the game at 14 with 12:13 to play. The Gators came right back, as Percy Harvin rushed for 52 yds and 12 yds to set up Jonathan Phillips 27 yd field goal to give the Gators 17-14 advantage with 10:45 left. Bradford tried to rally the Sooners, driving Oklahoma to midfield. Bradford tried to hit his star receive Juaquin Iglesias deep over the middle but Gator defensive back Ahmad Black ripped the football away from him, intercepting the pass. Tebow and the Gators took advantage, driving 76 yds in 11 plays, mostly behind the running of Tebow and Harvin. On 2nd and goal from the Oklahoma 4 yd line, Tebow faked a run into the line and fired a pass David Nelson to give the Gators a 10 point lead with 3:07 left. Bradford's Sooners went four and out, his last pass being batted down by the Florida defense. The Gators took over and ran out the clock to clinch the BCS title.

Tim Tebow hasn't announced if he's coming back to Florida, but if he doesn't, he's ended his Gator career as one of the most decorated players in college football history. Two National Championships, one Heisman trophy, two Maxwell awards, a Davey O'Brien award, a BCS Championship Game Offensive Player of the Game and an AP National player of the year - plus the admiration of people across the world. He may be the greatest Florida football player ever to grace an Orange and Blue uniform. Selfishly, I hope he comes back, I don't want to have seen the last of Superman, as his teammates call him, in a Gator uniform. Urban Meyer became the first coach to win two BCS Championship games and is only the 5th coach in college football history to win two national championships in his first four years at his school.

JC De La Torre's Tampa Bay Sports Blog offers our congrats to Gator Nation and the University of Florida for their third National Championship in school history.

Florida-Oklahoma - Who Wants it More?

By JC De La Torre

The BCS National Championship game is Thursday, featuring the #1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. #2 Florida Gators. Both teams bring in high octane offenses and have been playing lights out since suffering early season losses. JC De La Torre's Tampa Bay Sports Blog takes a closer look at the 2009 BCS National Championship game and predicts a winner.

The Series
Remarkably, the Gators and Sooners have never faced each other, despite playing over hundred years of football.

Florida's Offense vs. Oklahoma's Defense
The worst thing that could have happened for Oklahoma is that Percy Harvin got healthy for the BCS Title game. The Gators come in with the #3 scoring offense in the country, 17th in total offense, 56th passing, 9th rushing against an Oklahoma defense that is 58th in scoring defense, 63rd in total defense, 107th against the pass, 15th against the rush. The Gators passing attack is ranked low, not because of poor play by Quarterback Tim Tebow, who was a finalist for his second Heisman Trophy and threw for 2,515 yds, 28 touchdowns, while only tossing 2 interceptions this season. Florida's running game, led by athlete Percy Harvin, running backs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, as well as Tebow has made the passing game a secondary weapon. That's not to say its not capable, as Harvin, WR Louis Murphy and tight end Aaron Hernandez all have made big time plays for the Gators offense.

Oklahoma would appear to be fairly stoudt against the run this season, but when you put the microscope on the Sooners - their solid run defense play seems to fade away. Only Oklahoma State rushed the ball better than Florida in the Big 12 and they rushed for 198yds and a touchdown against Oklahoma. In fact, the Sooners have given up some big rushing numbers to top level competition - Texas (161 yds, 3 touchdowns), Baylor (194 yds, 2 tds), and even Nebraska (204 yds, 3 touchdowns). That simply won't get it done against Florida. Oklahoma does rush the passer extremely well - they're ranked 3rd in the nation with 42 sacks. They also lead the nation in turnover margin (+23). Florida is 2nd in the nation (+22).

Oklahoma's offense vs. Florida Defense
We all know about Oklahoma's offense - the Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, 58 or more points in their last six games. Oklahoma boats the #1 scoring offense in the nation, #3 in total offense, #16 rushing, and #3 passing. Bradford threw for 4,464 yds, 48 touchdowns and completed 68 percent of his passes this season. Juanquin Iglesias led all receivers with 69 receptions, 1,092 yds and 10 touchdowns. DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown split carries at running back, combining for 34 touchdowns and 2112 yds but Murray is injured and won't play. Florida meanwhile comes in with the #4 scoring defense in the nation, 7th in total defense, 14th in rushing defense, 22nd in pass defense. As mentioned previously, Florida is 2nd in the nation in turnover margin (+22) and are 2nd in the country in interceptions (24). Only three times this season has Gator opponents scored more than 20 points (Ole Miss, LSU, Alabama) and the most points the Gators gave up this season was 31 in their 1 point loss to Ole Miss in September. Since that loss to the Rebels, no team has scored more than 21 against Florida. The Gators defense has not allowed a 300 yd passer this season.

Florida's Special Teams vs. Oklahoma's Special Teams
The Gators are ranked 48th in kick return average and 7th in punt return yardage. They've returned two punts for touchdowns with the dangerous Brandon James returning. Oklahoma is 106th in kick return coverage and 17th in punt return coverage. Oklahoma has allowed 4 kick off returns for touchdowns this season. Oklahoma is 5th in kick return average led by DeMarco Murray's 27.6 yds a return - as stated previously, Murray will not play. Oklahoma is 70th in punt return average and they returned one punt for a touchdown this year. Florida is 89th in kick return coverage, 9th in punt return coverage and have not allowed a return for touchdown. Florida is 17th in punt average and 2nd in field goal percentage. Oklahoma is one of the nation's worst in punting average, ranked 116th and they're 67th in field goal percentage.

Coaching
Florida's Urban Meyer is 82-17 (43-9 in 4 yrs at Florida), he's won four conference championships (including two SEC titles), and a national championship. This is the second time in three years that Meyer has guided the Gators in position for a National Championship. Bob Stoops is completing his 10th season at Oklahoma with a 109-23 record. Stoops' Sooners have won 6 Big 12 championships and 1 National Championship (2000). Oklahoma has lost their last two trips to the BCS Championship Game (2003 to LSU 21-14, 2004 to USC 55-19). This is the fourth time in 8 years Stoops has the Sooners playing for the National title.

The Spread
We always mention the spread because Urban Meyer has always been well aware of the betting line due to many boosters that partake in the short term investment market.

Florida by 3 1/2

Final Score Prediction
What a match up we have for the National Championship game - two of the top offenses in the nation face off in a winner take all match up. The big difference in this one is defense and special teams. We all know the old adage - Defense wins championships. The next time Oklahoma plays good defense will be the first time - they're terrible and even worse, one of their players talked trash about Florida Hesiman Trophy winning and 2-time finalist quarterback Tim Tebow. Cornerback Dominique Franks told reporters that Tebow would be the 4th best quarterback in the Big 12 behind Heisman Trophy Winner Sam Bradford, Texas' Colt McCoy, and Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell.

As Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes said to the Associated Press, "How could you say something like that when he won the Heisman as a sophomore? We really didn’t think too much of it. When you talk about Tim, he’s going try to come out and make you pay. It’s kind of like deja vu all over again. Last time a guy talked about him, he came out and put 50 on him.”

Ricky Jean-Francois was the defender in question for LSU. Jean-Francois said he was going to knock Tebow out of the game - only to see the Gators roll up 51 points and Tebow score 3 touchdowns. In 2007, Florida State linebacker Geno Hayes was foolish enough to say Tebow was "going down" in their annual matchup only to see Tebow account for 5 touchdowns in route to a 45-12 destruction of the Seminoles. Its not wise to trash Tim...and the rub? LSU and FSU were much better defenses.

On the other side, Florida's is by far the best defense the high flying Sooners have faced this season.

"You keep hearing they've done this and scored all these points in the last five games," Spikes said, "But I really feel like they haven't faced a defense like ours, and Big 12 defenses are a joke. It's always like a bunch of basketball scores when I watch SportsCenter. So we'll see."

I agree with him. Oklahoma has run roughshod over the Big 12 because they had the better atheletes. In the SEC, the better atheletes play on defense (as evidenced by the number of defensive players drafted in top rounds of the NFL out of the SEC). Like Ohio State before them, Oklahoma hasn't seen the speed that Florida's defense will bring to the table. While it will definitely be a challenge for the Gators as well, since this is the best offense they've faced all season, you can't outscheme or coach speed. You either have it or you don't. Oklahoma does have some great skill players that will make some plays in this game, but they won't destroy Florida's defense the way they have every one else.

Then you factor in special teams, where Oklahoma is just flat out terrible and that's two of the three phases of that favor Florida. The game will be competitive early but Florida will eventually pull away in this one.

My Prediction: Florida 51, Oklahoma 34

Gators going to the BCS Championship!

By JC De La Torre

The University of Florida is now officially on their way to Miami to face Oklahoma for the National Championship Fox Sports announced tonight.

Your BCS Schedule is -
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl - Penn State vs. USC
Jan. 1 Orange Bowl - Cincinatti vs. Virginia Tech
Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl - Utah vs. Alabama
Jan. 5 Fiesta Bowl - Ohio State vs. Texas
Jan. 8 BCS National Championship Game - Florida vs. Oklahoma

We would like to offer our congrats to the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners for making it to the big one. Should be a fantastic championship game.

Gators Take it Easy on the Citadel, Only put up 70

By JC De La Torre

For a lot of the Gator players, this homecoming game will be the final memory of Florida Field as a football player. Some will move on to the Pros, others will find careers in business, science, or law. All of them will remember this was the day that the Gators were charitable, calling off the dogs and even letting their opponent get a couple cheapo touchdowns against the waterboy. The Gators dominated the Citadel Bulldogs 70-19. They could have easily scored 100.

Urban Meyer understood the fine line between making it look good for the pollsters and just being downright cruel. When the Gators pulled Tim Tebow and the starters midway through the 2nd quarter, it was 42-0. Tebow attempted only 11 passes, but had 201 yds passing and 3 touchdowns. Chris Rainey carried the ball just 7 times, but had 143 yds and a score. Percy Harvin touched it just 5 times, yet had 125 yds and a touchdown (his 13th straight game with a score). Before unloading the bench on defense, the Citadel's offensive possessions consisted of four punts and two interceptions.

Eight different Gators scored, and they scored 70 points for the first time since 2001. Florida totaled 706 yards of total offense -- the third most in school history. Gators running backs Chris Rainey and Emmanuel Moody each went over 100 yards on the ground, the second time in seven games Florida has had two 100-yard rushers (previously they hadn't done it since 1997). During their 7 game winning streak, Florida has outscored their opponents 369-82.

Even the ultra-focused Urban Meyer admitted that at halftime he was already thinking about Florida State next week.

So what does this do for the Gators in the polls? Honestly, not much. Despite putting a 70-burger on the Bulldogs and continuing to destroy every opponent they face, the Citadel game actually hurt Florida's strength of schedule. It didn't help that Ole Miss, the bug of the SEC, took down LSU - who is gaspiping the end of this season and hurting the Florida strength of schedule. It does help Florida in that the team that beat them nearly beat #1 Alabama (losing by 4), beat Florida, and now took down a ranked team in LSU. Ole Miss may actually be a ranked team by next week, making the Gator upset all the more legitimate. Florida was also helped by Florida State's dominant victory over a ranked Maryland team, which may allow the Noles to climb back into to top 25 before the Gators head to Tallahassee. Of course, Oklahoma's demolition of #2 Texas Tech has sent the Big 12 in to disarray, it will be interesting to see how the BCS rankings realign. Will Oklahoma jump both Florida and Texas? Will Texas, who had a bye week, move up to #2, Oklahoma #3, and Florida staying at #4? Or will it be #1 Alabama, #2 Florida, #3 Oklahoma, #4 Texas? As I said, its going to be interesting. One thing is certain, the BCS will not have a non-conference champion play for the BCS title. So you will see the champion of the Big 12 face the Champion of the SEC...barring some awful chicanery that may cause a congressional investigation into the BCS.

In any event, no Gator fan cares about anything this week but making Florida State look like the Citadel on Saturday.

Gators Have the Road Set for National Title Run

By JC De La Torre

The Florida Gators have sights set on Miami and now know the road to get there. With Saturday's upset of the Penn State Nitanny Lions by Iowa, Florida now doesn't have to worry about that fantastic Texas Tech squad slipping up somewhere along the line. The road is clear for the Gators and their case got even stronger with Florida State's victory over Clemson. Take care of their own business by finishing off with victories over South Carolina, the Citadel (on homecoming), and Florida State, they likely will face Alabama for the right to play for a berth in the National title game.

Florida will be ranked no worse than #4 when the BCS standings are released this evening, putting only Bama, Texas Tech, and Texas in their path to 1 of the 2 spots in the BCS. Florida emphatically stated their case to jump Texas by clobbering the nearly bowl eligible Vanderbilt Commodores 42-14, while Texas struggled early against god awful Baylor before finally getting their bearings and blowing out the Bears 45-21.

The biggest problem for the Longhorns is their remaining schedule, as they face two schools having down seasons in Kansas (6-4) and Texas A&M (4-6). They are in the same division as Texas Tech, so unless the Red Raiders fall to Oklahoma, they won't play in the Big 12 Championship game. Meanwhile, Florida plays South Carolina (7-3), the Citadel, and currently #22 Florida State (7-2, 1st place in the ACC Atlantic Division) before taking on #1 Alabama in the SEC title game. If both teams were to win out, there's little doubt that the Gators would jump Texas.

Of course, if the Red Raiders stumble in either the Oklahoma game or the Big 12 championship game, that opens up a big time mess in the BCS standings that could have Florida playing Texas or USC or Oklahoma or maybe even Penn State gets back into the mix. Basically, the BCS folks are praying to the football gods that the Red Raiders or Alabama can win out and keep this from being a nasty clusterfudge that President-elect Obama may inject himself into to force a college football playoff.

For the Gators, its simple - take care of your own business, avoid any minefield losses like Ole Miss, and you'll get a shot at the Crystal.