Right and Wrong:
Okay, my whole reason for writing this post was to use the lame-pun title—“ Better Sooners than Gators.” But to use that title, Oklahoma would have to have been victorious, and they were not. (Also, I want to be upfront—I started this article and decided what its focus would be about five hours before the game started after reviewing various offensive stats.) At that time, I decided this piece was going to be about two tough defenses and how they kept the scoring down and special teams play and how that turned the game around. I didn’t want to rehash how great the quarterbacks were or the receivers or the running game or even the offensive lines. (You’ve got to believe me—in one of the few prophetic moments of my entire life—I foresaw this would be the Battle of Two “Ds.”)
However, I also predicted that Oklahoma—O-k-l-a-h-o-m-a—would be the FEDEX BCS National Champions. I was wrong!
By the way—if you bet on the “over” on the Over/Under in this game—you lost! The over was set at 71.5 or 72. The total number of points scored in the game equaled 38 points. Wow! Did anyone take the under? If you did—congratulations!
Some Personal Performances:
Both QBs were intercepted twice and both threw two touchdowns. The difference in quarterbacks had to do with rushing. Bradford, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, had 18 rushing yards, while former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow notched 109 yards on the ground.
Also on the ground, the Gators’ Percy Harvin ran for 122 yards on nine carries (13.6 YPC) and one touchdown.
Florida also had three sacks. The Sooners had none.
That was the game.
Fox Sports:
I’m wondering how many freaking pundits can FOX fit at one table and how many can be wrong and/or look stupid? The answer is—all! They were as lame as talking heads can be. Why are they so bad, embarrassing and idiotic? Because they are not being themselves.
Hey, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer and Eddie George—you guys know football; you know the game inside out, but television demands that you make contradictory statements and be cute and try to look like media stars. Man, do we need some reality TV when it comes to football pundits.
The award for the worst suit goes to Barry Switzer. Barry, the thick stripes look bad…very bad…on TV.
FEDEX, FEDEX, FEDEX
And did anyone notice that the highlights reel shown at halftime of the biggest plays of the season was a very unsubtle FEDEX commercial? Okay guys, say it’s sponsored by FEDEX and superimpose the FEDEX label on all the football helmets and the turf and on anything else you can target, but please cut the copy that blabs on saying things such as, “like Texas Tech, FEDEX knows how important it is to use time effectively…” I know that commercials are what make the world go ‘round but how about you guys stop selling during a highlights reel and just let the athleticism on the highlights play out without trying to remind us how great your company is.
Question—is it more important that the National Champions of NCAA football in 2008- 2009 are the Florida Gators or that FEDEX sponsored the event? I think the answer, from all of the evidence, is FEDEX outweighs the game results. That’s a sad statement.
National Champions:
Congrats to the Gators. They won it with a down-by-down defense and (dare I say) one of the best college quarterbacks to set foot on the green gridiron—Tim Tebow.
Next year look for the Sooners to play… Who do you think it will be?
