2008 BCS National Championship Bowl Game Preview

#1 Oklahoma (12-1, 7-1 Big 12) vs. #2 Florida (12-2, 7-1 SEC)

January 8, 2009 @ 8:00 PM (EST) – FOX – Miami, FL - Buy BCS Championship tickets

Oklahoma Sooners - Big 12

2008 Record: 12-1, 7-1
Last Bowl Appearance: 2007 Fiesta Bowl vs. West Virginia (L 28-48)
Coach: Bob Stoops (109-23 at Oklahoma, 109-23 overall)
Bowl Record: 4-5 at Oklahoma, 4-5 overall
Offensive Coordinator: Kevin Wilson
Defensive Coordinator: Brent Venables
Big Wins: 11/22 Texas Tech (65-21), 11/29 at Oklahoma State (61-41)
Losses: 10/11 vs Texas (35-45)

Statistical Leaders for the Sooners:

Rushing: Chris Brown, RB, 1,110 yards
Passing: Sam Bradford, QB, 4,464 yards
Receiving: Juaquin Iglesias, WR, 1,092 yards
Tackles: Travis Lewis, LB, 136
Sacks: Jeremy Beal, DE, 8.5
Interceptions: Lendy Holmes, S, 5

Since their loss to Texas on October 11 th no team, except maybe Florida, has looked as impressive as Oklahoma. After the game against the Longhorns, the Sooners have knocked off Kansas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri. OU is playing their best football right now. On November 22 nd they blew out Texas Tech 65-21. They followed that up with a bedlam win at Oklahoma State and finished off the campaign with an easy win in the Big 12 Championship Game against Missouri.

Strengths for the Sooners:
It has to start with quarterback Sam Bradford. The sophomore has thrown for 4,464 yards and 48 touchdowns this year. As if those numbers were not impressive enough, it gets better. Bradford has completed 68.3 percent of his passes and threw just six interceptions on 442 pass attempts. That is not bad for a sophomore.It helps that Bradford has a couple great receiving targets to work with. Wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias is a solid possession receiver who can break the big play and Manuel Johnson is a speedy threat who averages 18 yards per catch. When one of those two are not open down field, Bradford has his safety valve in 6-6, 264 pound tight end Jermaine Gresham. The defensive front seven deserves to be mentioned as a major strength for the Sooners. Ends Jeremy Beal and Austin English and tackles Gerald McCoy and DeMarcus Granger are some of the best in the conference. With Keenan Clayton and Travis Lewis, the top tackler on the team, the linebackers have a couple young and talented players who can make a huge impact on the game.

Oklahoma's Weaknesses:
The lone weak spot on defense is the secondary. Safeties Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes are solid, experienced players, but the same cannot be said for the corners. Jamell Fleming, Dominique Franks and Brian Jackson have done an admirable job stopping some of the best passing attacks in the nation during conference play, but if the opposition can manage to get one-on-one coverage against the corners, they are very beatable. The good news is that Harris and Holmes are ready and able to help out. Usually the Oklahoma offense is able to make up for any deficiencies on special teams, but that might not be the case in the national championship game. It is not all punter Mike Knall’s fault as the coverage unit could be better, but the Sooners rank in the bottom half of the Big 12 in net punting. The same is true about punt returns. The biggest issue of them all is the health of running back DeMarco Murray. The star running back hurt his knee returning the opening kickoff during the conference championship game. He is expected to be at full strength, but it was when Murray hurt his other knee that OU had problems against Texas. But even if Murray is not at full strength, Chris Brown is a more than capable replacement who joined Murray in the 1,000 yard rushing club this season.

2008 Oklahoma Team Stats:

Rushing Offense: 205.54 (19th in nation, 2nd in Big 12)
Passing Offense: 356.54 (3, 2)
Total Offense: 562.08 (3, 1)
Scoring Offense: 54.00 (1, 1)
Rushing Defense: 106.00 (18, 2)
Pass Defense: 253.08 (99, 5)
Total Defense: 359.08 (65, 2)
Scoring Defense: 24.54 (57, 2)
Turnover Margin: 1.77 (1, 1)
Sacks: 3.23 (3, 2)
Sacks Allowed: .85 (4, 1)

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Florida Gators - SEC

2008 Record: 12-1, 7-1
Last Bowl Appearance: 2007 Capital One Bowl vs. Michigan (L 35-41)
Coach: Urban Meyer (43-9 at Florida, 82-17 overall)
Bowl Record: 2-1 at Florida, 4-1 overall
Offensive Coordinator: Dan Mullen
Defensive Coordinator: Charlie Strong
Big Wins: 11/1 at Georgia (49-10), 12/6 vs Alabama (31-20)
Losses: 9/27 Mississippi (30-31)

Statistical Leaders for the Florida Gators:

Rushing: Chris Rainey, RB, 655 yards
Passing: Tim Tebow, QB, 2,515 yards
Receiving: Louis Murphy, WR, 611 yards
Tackles: Brandon Spikes, LB, 87
Sacks: Carlos Dunlap, DE, 9.0
Interceptions: Ahmad Black, S, 6

If it was not for a one point loss at home to Mississippi in September, there would be little doubt who the most dangerous team in the nation is heading into the bowls. Even as it is, the Gators are heading to the national championship on the shoulders of defending Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. The SEC may not be as strong as most predicted at the beginning of the 2008 college football season but, outside of the Mississippi game, Florida has dominated everybody they have played.

Florida's Strengths:
Few teams can put points on the board like the Gators. The playmakers on offense certainly have a lot to do with that, but the main reason the team scores so much is because they are very efficient. Tebow only threw two interceptions during the regular season and that is a large part of why Florida has the second best turnover margin in the nation. But it is not all about field position. The Gators offense can move the ball in a hurry. Tebow has thrown for 2,515 yards and 28 touchdowns on the season and added another 564 yards and 12 scores on the ground.He has plenty of targets to work with, most notably Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy. Neither put up huge numbers this year, but both are dangerous receivers who are always a threat to score. What makes the Gators so difficult to defend is the amount of playmakers that they have on the field at any given moment. Tebow is always a threat to pass or run and Harvin has over 500 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving. Add Chris Rainey and Jeffery Demps to the backfield and the defense is almost always off balance.

Weaknesses for the Gators:
The main problem facing Florida is the front line on the defensive end. The team does sack the quarterback about 2.5 times per game, but the unit can spend quite a bit of time trying, and failing, to get into the backfield. When that is the case, the entire Gators defense feels the effect. Corners Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins have had solid seasons, and they get plenty of help from safeties Ahmad Black and Will Hill, but if the front four are not getting pressure on the quarterback, the secondary could be a liability. The leader of the defense is linebacker Brandon Spikes. The junior will do a little bit of everything and tallied eight tackles-for-loss, two sacks, four interceptions and a team high 80 tackles. His versatility allows the Gators to shut down the opposition’s strength and the probable first-round NFL Draft selection always shows up for the big games. Florida will win the field position battle on the turnover front, but the same cannot be said for special teams. The punt game is pretty good both ways, but for some reason the Gators have a tough time with kick-off returns. Brandon James handles a bulk of the return duties, but his average on kick-off returns leaves something to be desired.

2008 Florida Gators Team Stats:

Rushing Offense: 229.77 (11th in nation, 1st in SEC)
Passing Offense: 212.65 (61, 5)
Total Offense: 442.38 (18, 1)
Scoring Offense: 45.15 (3, 1)
Rushing Defense: 105.31 (16, 4)
Pass Defense: 174.00 (19, 4)
Total Defense: 279.31 (9, 3)
Scoring Defense: 12.85 (5, 1)
Turnover Margin: 1.69 (2, 1)
Sacks: 2.46 (33, 4)
Sacks Allowed: 1.23 (19, 2)

Sugar Bowl Pick: Florida 38 - Oklahoma 34

by Joel Welser
CollegeSports-fans.com Senior Staff Writer

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