2008 Bcs Championship Game - Florida's Tebow, Harvin and Defense Send Oklahoma Home a Loser, 24-14

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

When on patrol in a war zone and we are suddenly ambushed and outnumbered 10-to-1 and I have my choice of any player on the Florida and Oklahoma football teams, give me Tim Tebow. Any guy who believes in God and fights to his last breath is someone worthy of my trust.

Millions of television viewers found out during the BCS national championship game why Tim Tebow is the first choice of winners in any competition.

Tebow, Percy Harvin and a tenacious Florida Gator defense shut down an Oklahoma team that led the nation in scoring (51+ points a game) and was 3rd in both passing offense (349+ yards per game) and total offense (547+ yards per game) by limiting the Sooners to 14 points in a 24-14 victory for the national title Tuesday (1-8-09).

After a scoreless 1st quarter, Tebow found Louis Murphy for a 20-yard touchdown pass to end a 12-play, 86-yard drive as the 2nd quarter started. Not to be outdone, Oklahoma's quarterback Sam Bradford answered with a 6-yard TD pass to Jermaine Gresham on the Sooners' ensuing possession.

After Tebow was intercepted by Gerald McCoy and Oklahoma started a drive from the Florida 26-yard line, Chris Brown rushed twice for 24 yards, putting the Sooners on the 1-yard line on 3rd down. Then the Gator defense got plain nasty, stopping Brown for no gain and stopping him for a 2-yard loss when the Gators went for pay dirt rather than attempt a field goal.

The Florida goal-line stand with 5:20 left in the 1st half was classic and no mean feat. Brown had rushed for more than 1,100+ yards during the season and is no easy stop.

Oklahoma would launch another attack just before the half, driving 74 yards to the Florida 6-yard line before Bradford was intercepted with 3 seconds left when 3 Gator players would touch the ball in what looked like a tip drill before Major Wright hung on for the pick near the goal line. At the half it was 7-up.

With approximately 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Florida put together a 13-play, 74-yard drive that culminated with Percy Harvin scoring on a 2-yard run. Two possessions later, Oklahoma would answer with an 11-yard pass to Gresham, his second scoring catch from Bradford. Florida would answer immediately with a 27-yard field goal by Jonathan Phillips, giving the Gators a 17-14 edge. Bradford would be intercepted on the Sooners' next possession.

Then Tebow and his Florida offensive line would grind out an 11-play, 76-yard drive and take almost 7 minutes off the clock. Tebow was everywhere. He passed for 13 yards, ran for 1, passed for 16, passed for 29, passed for 4, passed for 9, ran for 3 and then charged the line and jump-passed to David Nelson for a 4-yard touchdown.

Oklahoma had the ball and 3 minutes left to erase a 10-point Florida lead. Bradford would throw 3 incompletions, the Gators would take the ball back and the Tebow would punish the Sooners by rushing 6 consecutive times. Oklahoma could not stop Tebow or Florida.

The Sooners' Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy this year (a fact not lost on Tim Tebow who won the Heisman last year), but Tebow outplayed Bradford in the championship game. It was not Bradford's best day and he looked really ineffective compared to Tebow's performance. When it counted, Tebow showed up and Bradford did not.

Percy Harvin was huge for Florida, gaining 122 yards on 9 carries (a 13.5 yard average per carry) that included a 52-yard dash that set up the Gators' go-ahead field goal in the 4th quarter.

The national title was Florida's 2nd in 3 years, giving it 2 BCS championships and making the Gators the only team with 2 BCS titles besides LSU, which won in the 2003 season and again last year. With Florida's 2 wins and LSU's 2 wins, Southeastern Conference teams have won 5 of the first 11 BCS national titles.

Oklahoma, which won the national title in 2000, has now lost its 3rd straight BCS championship game and 5th straight BCS bowl-game. The Sooners' set a modern record for scoring this year with 702 points and put up at least 60 points in its last 5 games, all of which did not mean squat in its face-off with Florida for the title. What do you want, records or titles?

Florida will be remembered forever for its achievement; Texas fans will have to celebrate the Sooners' scoring achievements with a private party.

"In the end, I will be glad to try again next year," said losing Sooner coach Bob Stoops. "If that's the biggest burden I have to bear in my life, I'm a pretty lucky guy."

"We're going to enjoy a big win (and a) national championship," said winning Gator coach Urban Meyer. "Let someone else worry about that," continued Meyer, referring to the fact that Utah, Southern California and Texas all thought that they should have played in the national championship game.

Florida finished the season at 13-1 with a national title; Oklahoma was 12-2.