BCS Championship Game Preview

(#1, #2)Florida (12-1) vs (#2, #1) Oklahoma (12-1)
BCS Championship Game
Miami, FL
January 8, 7:00 PM
All Time Series: First Meeting
All Time Bowl Records: Florida 16-19, Oklahoma 24-16-1
Monday’s Line: Florida -4

Total Offense, Scoring Offense (National Rank):
Oklahoma: 562.1 ypg, (3rd), 54.0 ppg (1st)
Florida: 442.4 ypg (17th), 45.2 ppg (3rd)

Total Defense, Scoring Defense (National Rank):
Oklahoma: 359.1 ypg (63rd), 24.5 ppg (58th)
Florida: 279.3 ypg (7th), 12.8 ppg (4th)

Hard to really add to everything that’s already been said about this game all over the web and blogosphere. It’s 2 of the top programs in the country with 2 incredibly potent offenses battling it out on the biggest stage in college football. The anticipation of this game – at least for me – reminds me a lot of the classic USC/Texas game from 2006 Rose Bowl. The past 2 years, it’s been obvious who the winner would be before the games even started. Not so much this year.

Percy Harvin will play and says he’s at 90%, so take that for what it’s worth. When healthy, there’s not a team in the country who can handle the speed and versatility of the Gator offense, certainly not an OU defense ranked ~60 in total and scoring defense. The Gators will certainly have their hands full with Oklahoma’s offense, but if they can control the ball on offense and limit the time the ball’s in Bradford’s hands, they’ll be fine. That strategy worked to perfection for Ole Miss against the vaunted Texas Tech offense.

I do believe this will be a highly-entertaining game. I don’t believe it’ll be as high scoring as a lot of people think or hope for. Based on the recent past, it’s hard to pick against Urban Meyer or with Bob Stoops when it comes to BCS games. Given a month to prepare and heal, Florida should come on top of this one by a hair.

Florida 31, Oklahoma 28