Eight years and four days ago, I rushed home from work to watch the national championship game between Oklahoma and Florida State. Can you believe it’s been eight years?
You know: Somebody has to lose Thursday night.
The sun will rise for both the Sooner and Sunshine states on Friday.
Oklahoma has lost this game twice since 2001, against LSU in 2003 and USC in 2004.
Florida lost the national title game in 1994, to a Big 8 school.
The Gators won with Bob Stoops as defensive wizard in 1996.
Three times has a second-year college football coach won the title this decade: Stoops in 2000, Ohio State’s Tressel in 2002 and Florida’s Meyer in 2006.
When Oklahoma and Ohio State went for seconds, they lost. Urban Meyer is going for seconds against Oklahoma.
The cockiest team? Florida. They’re favored. The saw Mississippi manhandle Texas Tech. They know their QB lost in the Heisman race, which is like a backward jinx. They believe they will win.
Nobody is picking OU to win. One ESPN or Sportsline nationwide vote had 78 percent of voters say Florida would win its third national title.
Dominique Franks had something to say about Tim Tebow, but Tebow was first to say something about Big 12 defenses.
In fact, Oklahoma’s defense has been dogged for the past month by association with other Big 12 teams.
What’s worse is that OU fans (guilty) have dogged Brent Venables’ efforts the past several years, and some of that is deserved. Just not this year.
What most folks don’t know is that Brent lost both his parents to cancer last season and the year before. That would distract anybody. I’m really pulling hard for the OU defense.
But this 2008 Oklahoma defense has a major chip on its shoulder, plays with great technique, hits really hard (Quentin Carter) and finally has the right middle linebacker starting (Mike Balogun).
This 2008 Oklahoma team started the season by remembering how 2007 ended, with an embarrassing 48-28 loss to West Virginia.
This year, we finish.
Bob Stoops was eerily calm at Wednesday’s press conference. Not that it means much, but for the record, he’s typically testy and tense.
I think he knows something.
I think we’ll look back at Thursday’s game as one of the best-coached games in Oklahoma history. Perhaps I am smoking crack, but last season, the Sooners were “tired” of all the why-can’t-you-win-a-BCS-game talk.
But OU was a favorite then, and the year before. OU is an underdog now, and — seriously — every legitimate college football sign points to a Florida win.
Oklahoma will get the ball first, and on the first play of the game, we go deep. Play-action pass over the middle to Jermaine Gresham for an 80-yard bomb. Florida will try to cover him 1-on-1 because “they have SEC defenders.”
The Sooners will produce a three-and-out, and follow it up with a 6-play drive culminating in a Chris Brown run from 6 yards out. 14-0 with 6:55 left in the first.
Florida marches down and settles for 3.
Oklahoma throw a tip-drill pick, and Florida again moves the ball on OU. Field goal only. 14-6.
Oklahoma goes three-and-out again, and Florida marches the ball downfield. We’re unable to deal with Tebow’s scrambling, and eventually, he runs it in from 31 yards. That’s right, 31 yards out. Florida goes for 2 and gets it. 14-14 with 5:58 left in the half.
However, 2008 has been the season of the tremendous second quarter defensive adjustment for OU. Venables will get Tebow under control, even if it takes awhile.
Meanwhile, Sam goes deep to Jermaine again for a 44-yard score, over a pair of cornerbacks on the right side, and OU is up 21-14.
Those defensive adjustments prove effective right off the bat as Nic Harris picks off Tim Tebow and runs it back 31 yards to give Oklahoma a 28-14 lead with 2:20 left in the half.
Florida gets the ball to open the second half and manages to cut the Oklahoma lead to 11. They say the first possession of the second half is most important, and Oklahoma’s second-half strategy is ball-control.
Chris Brown. Mossis Madu. Matt Clapp.
Madu scores from 2, and it’s 35-17 with 9:00 left in the third.
Florida returns the kickoff 90 yards for a score. Crap! 35-24.
Oklahoma and Florida both go 5 or 6 plays-and-out as things calm down a bit. However, the play that 2008 might forever be remembered by happens in the next possession.
Oklahoma lines Manny, Ryan and Juaquin on the left-hand side. Chris Brown is the back, lined up just to the back and left of Sammy. Brody Eldridge is the TE, while Jermaine Gresham and backup quarterback Joey Halzle are lined up on the right-hand side.
From shotgun, Sammy pitches it to a sweeping Halzle, who stops and immediately turns around, lobbing it to Gresham for a 61-yard, nothing-but-green-grass touchdown. The defense will pursue Halzle, thinking he’s running the start of a reverse, which will completely free Jermaine (who was lined up with Halzle).
42-24.
Florida gets the ball to start the fourth, but a fumble is recovered by Jeremy Beal. Five plays later, whoever kicks field goals for OU (is his name Jimmy? only kidding) hits a 41-yarder for a 45-24 lead.
Four minutes left in the game, and the stadium is starting to empty. Run, run, run. Run, run, run. Announcers talk about Stoops’ future, his legacy. They’ll talk about how Meyer’s legacy isn’t diminished one bit by this loss, and while they’re talking, Chris Brown will scamper 22 yards for a score. 52-24.
Stoops gets the Gatorade bath with 1:55 left.
Dominique Franks gets an interception with :58 left.
Sam kneels twice, and it’s over. Jermaine is the MVP.
That’s about how I believe it will go, give or take a little. I think OU is perfect as the underdog. I think Oklahoma is way better this year than in 2006 and 2007. I think Florida is a tad overrated, unless Utah is THAT good. I still think Florida is a great team.
And, you bet, we could still lose. Oklahoma has done it before, and it will live to do it again. Most people think we WILL lose Thursday night!
But honest to goodness, as real as I sit here typing this, I think Oklahoma wins Thursday. Better chemistry. An on-fire defense. Great ground game. A coach who feels like he has something to prove.
I’m ready. Oh, and I think this should be the pregame speech. This comes from a very underrated sports movie, and it’s a wonderful speech. You could put the helmet on me after this.
