Bobby Bowden, Dennis Erickson, Joe Paterno, Pete Carroll, and now Urban Meyer are the only coaches in college football history to have won two national championships in their career. Meyer’s Florida Gators capped their one loss season with a 24-14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. 

  

     Dolphin Stadium provided a heavily biased crowd in favor of the Gators, while the Sooners did their best to muster up enough toughness to outlast Florida.  Nobody in their right frame of mind could have predicted the way this game turned out.  Obviously my 41-31 pick of Oklahoma flew back like a boomerang and hit me right in the face.  After the first quarter, the score was 0-0 in a game that was supposed to feature a dominant, quick strike offense of Oklahoma and a tough big play Florida offense.  None of that was evident in the first fifteen minutes.  Major Wright made his hard hitting impact early on by leveling Sooners wideout Manuel Johnson on a perfectly thrown ball. We saw an interception from Tim Tebow, and two punts from Oklahoma’s Mike Knall.  Who would have guessed? 
    

     As the game transitioned on, I began to realize that this game would not feature a 60 point game, something Oklahoma has not been used to since scoring only 58 against Kansas State in early October. We finally saw the first score as Tim Tebow hit Louis Murphy for a 20 yard touchdown pass capping an 86 yard drive.  It was after that touchdown where Heisman winner Sam Bradford got the scoring memo and the idea of how to exploit the physical Florida defense.  A heavy dose of Chris Brown for the Sooners in which he tabulated 45 yards on three carries in a two minute drive that was capped off by a Jermaine Gresham score.  Ok, so I am sitting on my couch going, alright so here comes the scoring, but to my surprise, it went back to the first quarter atmosphere.  Florida quarterback Tim Tebow threw a pass into the chest of Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Gerald McCoy who returned it into Florida territory.  How can you look by the game McCoy had.  Absolutely brilliant.  Oklahoma got the ball with good field position and went right down the field until they got to the one foot line.  In my opinion, the biggest two plays of the game happened here when Oklahoma could have began to run away with the game.  Chris Brown was handed the ball twice to pound the ball into the endzone and was stuffed both times.  Florida ball.  My hat is off to Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong who called a tremendous game for the Gators.  Florida then got the ball back and all the momentum.  Percy Harvin, bad ankle and all, took a handoff down the field for 45 yards and uncle momentum seemed right back on their side.  Oklahoma stood strong and forced a punt, and just enough time to go down and score before the half.  Oklahoma did all of that, except for the score.  Bradford forced a ball that got juggled and eventually picked off with three seconds to go by Major Wright.

    

     So, I am sitting there at halftime wondering when this whole offensive showcase was going to break out.  It appeared both defensive coordinators Brent Venables and Charlie Strong had drawn the perfect schemes to slow the other team’s speed. The third quarter featured the same defensive intensity, which included a roughing the kicker penalty that set up Oklahoma with great field position.  Once again, Florida’s defense held strong behind strong play of linebacker Brandon Spikes who appears destined for the NFL.  Oklahoma had had to punt and eventually momentum swung back in favor of the Gators.  Florida took the ball right down the field and was capped by a two yard touchdown from Percy Harvin. Oklahoma figured to answer as Bradford completed a deep pass to Quentin Chaney that would set the Sooners up for a questionable field goal attempt.  A 49-yard field goal, when your team is down by seven late in the third?  It was 4th and 5 at the 32-yard line.  Why not go for it?  The season all year long has been dependent on the offensive firepower.  I just never saw the reason for attempting such a long field goal by a redshirt freshman.  It ended up being blocked and Florida seemed in control.  The Sooners would respond and get a critical stop forcing the Gators to punt.  Freshman Ryan Broyles returned the punt for the Sooners, which at that moment seemed like a huge play.  A fifteen yard return of the punt in which Broyles caught the ball inside the ten.  Look out for Broyles in the years to come.  Stunning similarties to Dez Bryant and Jeremy Maclin who are leaving school early.  Oklahoma’s quick strike offense seemed impossible to stop with a scoring drive of two and a half minutes with a 14 yard reception from Gresham.  His second of the game.  Florida answered with a 27-yard field goal from Jonathan Phillips.  Oklahoma appeared to have the offense clicking until Ahmad Black made the biggest play of his career.  A perfectly thrown ball from Bradford was taken out of the weak hands of wideout Juaquin Iglesias.  Florida took over with great field position and took nearly a seven minute drive only to be ended with the patented play of Tim Tebow.  Florida had a 3rd down when Tebow took the snap and faked the run, but instead dropped back and did a jump pass into a tightly covered Oklahoma defense, that was caught by David Nelson. 

    

     Florida stopped Oklahoma on downs and Florida ran the clock out to complete their second national championship in three years.  Although the game wasn’t pretty, it was exactly what Florida wanted; to slow down the Oklahoma offense and show toughness and leadership.  The word leadership is none more evident than Tim Tebow and toughness describes the play of All-American Percy Harvin.  Although Tim Tebow received the games Most Valuable Player, I feel Harvin deserved it just as much.  He was playing with an injured ankle that was nowhere near 100% come gametime and was reinjured during the game.  Did he quit playing? No.  He finished the game with five catches for 50 yards and nine rushes for 121 yards.  No knock on Tebow because he had a great game, but the valuable aspect belonged to Harvin.  The numbers for Tebow were not great from a quarterback standpoint, but that’s just the way he wants it.  He concluded 18-30 for 232 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  He also rushed for 109 yards on 22 attemps.  Those numbers are solid, but the leadership of Tebow makes this kid a special player. 

    

     So the question becomes, who will stay in school and who will move up a day to play on Sundays?  It appears as if Harvin and Spikes are destined first rounders if they left school early, which seems likely.  The big question mark surrounds the heart and soul of the Gators, Tim Tebow.  Past reports have linked Tebow to asking scouts what his status would be if he left school a year early.  I see Tebow being a late third round, early forth if he wants to go out as a quarterback, which he says he will do.  He just is not a pocket passer and lacks great footwork within the pocket.  I see the guy standing at 6′3″ 240 pounds as more of a fullback or tight end in the NFL.  Honestly, I think Tebow will stay in college and make Florida the favorites at another national championship in 2009.  The are graduating 18 seniors, and half of them never played a down outside of The Citadel.  Obviously there is the potential loss of Tebow, Spikes, and Harvin, but who could ever doubt the coaching and recruiting abililties of Urban Meyer.  Accoring to Rivals.com, the Gators have the 11th best recruiting class in the nation, but are still waiting for decisions from several other 5-star high school athletes.  If you asked me at this moment in time, a day after the 2008 season is over, who will win it next year, its easy; the Florida Gators.  Not just because of what I just said but look at their schedule next year.  Possibly the easiest SEC schedule ever, if there is such a thing.  They open the season with Charleston Southern, Troy, and Tennessee.  Not exactly juggernauts.  Their home games include Arkansas, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Florida International, and Florida State.  Their road games will be Kentucky, LSU (who could be the toughest game with Les Miles bringing in a stacked recruiting class), Mississippi State, and South Carolina.  Obviously the last game of the year is the SEC Championship game in Atlanta.  Tell me how Florida does not win it again?  If Tebow leaves early, I can understand a possible fall off.  This team will be even more stacked next year with the possible subtractions of Harvin and Spikes.  They will go out and play the University of Southern California for the 2009 national championship and maybe win their 3rd championship in four years.

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