OK, time to get the predictions started. Mine is OU 84 - Florida 17. Living in Florida I have been forced to watch SEC games. Their defenses look good because the offenses are sooooo bad. Florida has the only good offense and it is average. I think OU will score on every possesion but one and return at least one interception for a touchdown. Due to the shear number of return opportunites Florida will run one back for 7. This game will be 42-3 at halftime. Don't look for OU to let up either once the game is out of hand.

I still can't figure out the dummies at ESPN. They say Florida is a great team and at the same time keep saying Tebow had to will his team to win. Well which is it? Are they a great team or not. I vote for not, and pretty soon they are going to face the best offense anyone in Florida has ever seen. The Florida defense will play a team capable of not only making first downs, but scoring points.

Florida's opponents this season
Team (Final record) Signature win
Hawaii (7-6) Fresno State 32-29 in OT
Miami (7-5) Virginia Tech 16-14
Tennessee (5-7) Vanderbilt 20-10
Mississippi (8-4) Florida 31-30 at Florida Field
Arkansas (5-7) Tulsa 30-23
LSU (7-5) Troy 40-31
Kentucky (6-6) they didn't have a win against a good team
Georgia (9-3) they didn't have a win against a good team
Vanderbilt (6-6) Mississippi 23-17
South Carolina (7-5) Mississippi 31-24
Citadel (4-8) they didn't have a win against a good team
Florida State (8-4) Virginia Tech 30-20
Alabama (12-1) This will be a shock but the best team Alabma beat was 8-4 Mississippi

I predict OU will not score 84 points haha you must be joking.

45-35 OU, settled on a NCG field. :)

I cannot pick OU simply because recent history suggests we get lax and lay an egg in the big game. OU I believe must play physical smash mouth football esp on defense. I am an OU grad and want them to win, BUT, I still remember the SC debacle when I turned off the tube at halftime.

What is the difference this time you may ask dcsooner. Well, no coaches have left the team, the quarterback doesn't have a broken arm, players at all key positions are 100% healthy, and barring some stupid act, no starters will be suspended for the game. All of those things happened to OU in their last 4 BCS games.

However, those same things are happening to Florida this time (but that isn't why OU will win).

Nik4411 - why don't you think OU will score 84 points. They could have broken 100 several times this season if they wanted to. Go back and look at OU points by quarter. They had 55 on Nebraska at hafltime but only a field goal in the second half. Against Chattanooga they had 50 at half but only a touchdown in the second half. If OU had kept tha starters on offense and defense in the whole game and truly tried to run up the score (as they are accused of doing) they could have scored almost 1000 points this year.

Kerry, I hope YOU are right. All my life I have been an OU fan so I won't jump off the bandwagon if they lose, I just know the serious level of dejection I would experience, if we lose. I get alot of ribbing on my job from SC and LSU alums about our past performances when it really mattered and I really have not rebuttal because for the most part they are right

Kerry,

Thanks for posting Florida's 'body of work' for all to see. They really haven't done that much this season, have they... in spite of ESPN treating Tebow as the 'second coming'.

I agree that our offense could put up 84 points, but I don't think so against these guys, mostly because we will likely not have the ball long enough. Unfortunately for OU, the defense has a tendency to run in the cool to lukewarm range most of the time. They are good and hold their own, but just barely. I can see the Gators putting up at least 28 on us, which means they will have the ball and move it up the field.


My prediction, for what it is worth, is OU 52 Florida 35.

Kerry- I don't know, I just feel 84 points is a lot against an opponent like Florida. They are a little better than Nebraska and Tenn-Chattanooga, but who knows you might be right they could come out on fire...I just can't see it happening...


Oh and update for the game, OU will not have the services of running back Demarco Murray for the game.

OU 45 -- Florida 35

I think that would be the perfect score since all of the controversy. It would be like the Texas fans and such were giving an early prediction with their banners and airplane flyovers.

I'm thinking a 10-point margin as well.

Kerry, I hope YOU are right. All my life I have been an OU fan so I won't jump off the bandwagon if they lose, I just know the serious level of dejection I would experience, if we lose. I get alot of ribbing on my job from SC and LSU alums about our past performances when it really mattered and I really have not rebuttal because for the most part they are right

Tell them we have more national championship titles than both of those teams, and more Heisman winners than LSU.

In China 8 is considered a lucky number, dealing with prosperity. There are more than 1.3 Billion Chinese....they can't all be wrong.

A quote from wiki:

"A telephone number with all digits being eights was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China.

The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing began on 8/8/08 at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm (local time)[1]"

OU and Florida will play at 8pm on Jan. 8th, the 8th day of the new year. If Ou wins it will be their 8th national championship and 8 years since their last championship.

So heres my guess/prediction: Ou will win 38-30 ...scoring its last and decideing touchdown with 8 seconds in the game by Brandon Caleb #8. Heres hoping the game actually kicksoff at 8:08:08. Boomer Sooner.

PS; 2009 is the year of the Oxen in China, if OU wins it will be the 2008 national champinoship. 2008 is/was the year of the rat......Im sure alot of Texas fans would agree with that :hairyguy:

OU - 62
Florida - 27

I agree that OU doesn't have the sideshows that's ocurred with the last 4 BCS games, so I don't think that is a consideration.

Florida doesn't really have a win that stands out to me. They beat Georgia 49-10, that's pretty good for a game on a "neutral field" 61 miles away versus the 351 miles UGA had to travel. And putting up 70 on the Citadel the second to last game of the regular season is hardly impressive. The Alabama win is nice, as is beating Florida State in a monsoon, but the absence of very many wins against ranked teams is a strike.

OU's key, I believe will be on special teams. They can't let a single kick return slip by them, or the game will be on the line. A freshman kicker and an absent primary kick returner for OU cause a lot of suspicion. On the reverse, Florida's return man can be dangerous, and provide for good field position.

Bradford outshines Tebow with 4 td passes and over 300 yds and is MVP.

[QUOTE=Kerry;188604]What is the difference this time you may ask dcsooner. Well, no coaches have left the team, the quarterback doesn't have a broken arm, players at all key positions are 100% healthy, and barring some stupid act, no starters will be suspended for the game. All of those things happened to OU in their last 4 BCS games.

Plus Reggie Smith is not longer there whinning about not playing because a re-injury would keep him out of the draft, ditto for M. Kelly. I think that really hurt the morale along with shop-lifting a coat in Arizona of all places....:doh:

BOOMER!!!!!!!

OU 31 FL 28

I was just on my way to reserve a thread for this, but Kerry beat me.

Thunder's Prediction

Oklahoma > 42

Florida > 36

45-35 OU, settled on a NCG field. :)

Huh, that's funny. That's my tie breaker score for Bowl Mania on espn.com. I thought it'd be ironic if it was the same score as the Rx3.

Unfortunately I made that pick a long time ago. Being an oSu fan, I like to root for the underdog in this game. But both schools are the underdog--Florida is picked by a majority of the states to beat uo & uo is ranked #1 in the polls. Coincidentally, I'll be rooting for both schools. I can say Go Gators but I can't use the sooner terminology. Best of luck to our other in state school.

Why is Tebow so popular? He's average at best. Is he the son or something of someone important? I've never seen so much hype over someone like this before. Vince Young was way better then him, and he wasn't touted as Christ himself. Does anyone know?

So much for a high scoring game.

this is painful

People here actually picked OU. Sigh. When will people learn. OU will win another title once Big Game Bob finally packs up and moves on. Though I hope I'm wrong.

Holy choke. Good game though.

# 72 was one of the major factors for assisting the Sooners to lose the game. Don't forget that stupid 2 flags he caused for the entire team.

I noticed that they changed their stragety, which in my opinion is a huge mistake. Sam did not look prepared in my view since he had been looking at the sidelines much more and longer than all the previous games. Sam was also not much help in motivating the team and especially the fans.

That and failure to execute in the red zone not once but twice in the first half is another thing

Vince Young was way better then him,
vince who? does he even still play football? if so, who does he play for. are you saying tebow is not good enough to play in the nfl?

My prediction...

Florida 24 OU 14

All in all, a good game in the first half. OU seemed to just give up in the second half. I agree with Thunder that Sam seemed unprepared for the strategy change. But heh, who else can say that they have been to the National Championship Game four times in the last eight years AND LOSE THREE OF THEM!

I agree with this joke...

Q: When Bob Stoops gets home from a long day at work, where does he put his keys?

A: On the table, because if he put them in a bowl, he would lose them!

Haha thats pretty funny Insider.

I listened to the sports animal yesterday while driving around town, and there was some guy who said OU would score 60 on Florida...wow.
I cant believe people out there actually believed things like that.
Some folks (mostly OU fans) actually thought OU would score 50+ points on the Gators, very laughable. This isn't Texas Tech or Missouri or Kansas they were playing. Geez.

Anyways, it was a great game, OU should be proud. Although they keep losing in the big games, atleast they are there.

Dang, dang, dang, dam*, dang, dang, dam*!!!! How could we leave 17 pts. on the field? OU played even, to better, in this game and lost. Some people will blame Stoops for the loss, but I tend to agree with Switzer...it's the players who win games, not the coaches.

I listened to the sports animal yesterday while driving around town, and there was some guy who said OU would score 60 on Florida...wow.
I cant believe people out there actually believed things like that.
Some folks (mostly OU fans) actually thought OU would score 50+ points on the Gators, very laughable. This isn't Texas Tech or Missouri or Kansas they were playing. Geez.

That's one of the aggrivating things about this game. On several drives, OU moved down the field EXACTLY like they were playing Texas Tech, Missouri, or Kansas. We just left 17 pts. on the field.

I think that falls on the shoulders of the coaches. Looking back, Stoops should have sent the field goal unit out and taken the points. But, going for it on fourth down is how he likes to play, just didn't work out too well inside the 10.

I think that falls on the shoulders of the coaches. Looking back, Stoops should have sent the field goal unit out and taken the points. But, going for it on fourth down is how he likes to play, just didn't work out too well inside the 10.


Yeah, that's a coaching decision, but even if we'd played it safe and made field goals on all three of our missed opportunities, we still would have come up 1 point short of winning.

Why is Tebow so popular? He's average at best. Is he the son or something of someone important? I've never seen so much hype over someone like this before.

Maybe because he's a heisman trophy winner, maybe because he helped his team win a national championship, maybe because he's a good kid and a christian missionary. I'm not knocking your question....trust me I've asked the same question myself several times. However I would say he's better than average.

ESPN (by the way I hate their new webpage) seems to be going down the same drain as MTV did a few years back....(remember when they use to play videos) ESPN seems to have had a love affair with several quarterbacks this season....Colt Mccoy, Gramham Harrel, even Sam Bradford were all put on a pedastal and pronounced to be the best qb in the nation. Remember how many times you saw Colts 20 minute bio about his dad and his buddy and their fishing trips...and what great kids they are. Even last night one of the announcers proclaimed that if someone was lucky enough to spend 5 minutes with Tim Tebow their life would be better for it.

Maybe....maybe not

Tim is a good qb, and Im sure hes a good kid too, so are the others, but enough with the love fests. Safe that for E TV or Oprah.

Ou shot themselves in the foot several times last night, but why are the media and some others so down on OU? If you don't win the national championship every year does that mean you aren't any good? How many teams can say they've played in 4 championship games this decade? How many teams have played in all 4 BCS bowls and the ncg?

The same for the Stoops bashers. Sure there were some odd calls made by the coaches this year, but if they'd worked the coaches would be praised for their risk taking. I would have gone for it too if I had Sam and our offensive line with 4 plays inside the ten yard line. The players just didn't get it done.

OU has no reason to hang their heads, they had a great season and Im proud of them. And I for one hope Bob Stoops remains the coach at OU for a long time. Hes a good man, a great coach, and I think he handles his job with a lot of class.....Can anyone think of a better coach anywhere?

Now, whos ready for Big XII basketball? Boomer Sooner

I for one hope Bob Stoops remains the coach at OU for a long time. Hes a good man, a great coach, and I think he handles his job with a lot of class.....Can anyone think of a better coach anywhere?


This is exactly what I was saying to some other folks this morning. Okay...so we came up short again. But you have to admit that OU seemed more ready to play than they had in recent years. How many other teams only WISHED they could have been playing for a national championship last night, much less be in that position 40% of the time over the last 10 years? Okay...maybe USC, and now maybe Florida, but who else? Texas?...eh, perhaps. LSU? Nope...not recently. That's about it. Short list, huh? No, give me Coach Stoops and his 40% rate of making it to the big game. I'll just keep hoping the odds will eventually tilt in our favor and we'll win our share of championships.

Q: When Bob Stoops gets home from a long day at work, where does he put his keys?

A: On the table, because if he put them in a bowl, he would lose them!

Just don't forget what it was like before Stoops came. That's all I have to say.

Just don't forget what it was like before Stoops came. That's all I have to say.

Please do not get me worng. I love Bob Stoops. He is an amazing man and a great coach. I in no way, shape, or form want him to leave. I have had the pleasure of meeting him on MANY occasions at the grocery store, 7-Eleven, etc (and no, I did not harass him about football, I talked to him like he was just any other person. I didn't even I acknowledge the fact that I new who he was until I walked away and said bye using his name). He is truly one of the niced, most down to earth people you will probably ever meet. His kids are a pleasure and are VERY well mannered. I hope he is at OU for many years to come!

Maybe because he's a heisman trophy winner, maybe because he helped his team win a national championship, maybe because he's a good kid and a christian missionary. I'm not knocking your question....trust me I've asked the same question myself several times. However I would say he's better than average.

ESPN (by the way I hate their new webpage) seems to be going down the same drain as MTV did a few years back....(remember when they use to play videos) ESPN seems to have had a love affair with several quarterbacks this season....Colt Mccoy, Gramham Harrel, even Sam Bradford were all put on a pedastal and pronounced to be the best qb in the nation. Remember how many times you saw Colts 20 minute bio about his dad and his buddy and their fishing trips...and what great kids they are. Even last night one of the announcers proclaimed that if someone was lucky enough to spend 5 minutes with Tim Tebow their life would be better for it.

Maybe....maybe not

Tim is a good qb, and Im sure hes a good kid too, so are the others, but enough with the love fests. Safe that for E TV or Oprah.

Ou shot themselves in the foot several times last night, but why are the media and some others so down on OU? If you don't win the national championship every year does that mean you aren't any good? How many teams can say they've played in 4 championship games this decade? How many teams have played in all 4 BCS bowls and the ncg?

The same for the Stoops bashers. Sure there were some odd calls made by the coaches this year, but if they'd worked the coaches would be praised for their risk taking. I would have gone for it too if I had Sam and our offensive line with 4 plays inside the ten yard line. The players just didn't get it done.

OU has no reason to hang their heads, they had a great season and Im proud of them. And I for one hope Bob Stoops remains the coach at OU for a long time. Hes a good man, a great coach, and I think he handles his job with a lot of class.....Can anyone think of a better coach anywhere?

Now, whos ready for Big XII basketball? Boomer Sooner
Hear, Hear!:congrats:

I heard a great one this morning on the sports animal.

Q: How does Tim Tebow screw in a lightbulb?

A: He just stands there because the world revolves around him.

When it comes to bowl games, the Oklahoma Sooners have a slim to none chance of ever winning. That's because of their weak psychological state of mind when it comes to such long break/vacation in between games.

When we look at the Sooners playing aganist Chatanooga, they were weak considering how new Chatanooga's membership in the NCAA was. One game (forgot who the opponent was) in Norman, there was a sudden thunderstorm rolling thru during halftime that delayed the start of 2nd half. The result was the Sooners completely thrown out of sync.

Personally, I believe the coaches are not doing well enough on preparing them psychologicially. The coaches clearly think that physical prepareness is enough.

As I've read a day or two ago about an agreement that bowl games will continue until 2014, I'm starting to think that by the year 2014, NCAA should start to switch over to playoff format. We can't have teams going so long without action that clearly affect the outcome.

Stoops is still one of the best in the game regardless of how the recent bowl games have played out...BCS bowl opponents tend to be fairly decent

Have to say going for it at the 2 in the first half was a bad call...Have to take the points and the lead at that point in the game...Second call that blew my mind was the 50 yd fg attempt by a freshman kicker who was definitely subpar during the season...Way shocked when they lined up for that one

Regardless of the result we had a blast at Fox & Hound...Place was packed and the crowd was lively...Cold beer made up for some of the loss

Maybe because he's a heisman trophy winner, maybe because he helped his team win a national championship, maybe because he's a good kid and a christian missionary. I'm not knocking your question....trust me I've asked the same question myself several times. However I would say he's better than average.

ESPN (by the way I hate their new webpage) seems to be going down the same drain as MTV did a few years back....(remember when they use to play videos) ESPN seems to have had a love affair with several quarterbacks this season....Colt Mccoy, Gramham Harrel, even Sam Bradford were all put on a pedastal and pronounced to be the best qb in the nation. Remember how many times you saw Colts 20 minute bio about his dad and his buddy and their fishing trips...and what great kids they are. Even last night one of the announcers proclaimed that if someone was lucky enough to spend 5 minutes with Tim Tebow their life would be better for it.



I do have to agree with you on this after thinking back! Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy. The work he does off of the field at 21 is phenominal. I just think the sports casters are hyping him up way too much, but that's not his fault. I didn't mean to sound like I was knocking him at all. Just trying to understand the hype around him.

As far as Bob Stoops packing up, are you nuts? Bob Stoops is one of the greatest coaches in Sooner and college football history. So they've lost some bowl games, Bob is still the man, and I hope to see him around for a long time. The boys just need motivation in the big games.

The boys just need motivation in the big games.

Another major factor is the fans. Anyone notice how the Sooners fans only cheer and go crazy with touchdowns? That's the problem! The fans need to learn how to keep the stadium loud and annoy the opponent team. This bowl game, the Florida fans was clearly the winner.

ESPN said that it appeared to be around 80% Gator fans there so it really was like a home game for them. The remaining 20% can't really do much in that sort of situation.

I'm proud of the Sooners, but of course disappointed. I'm not liking this trend, but it's got to end some day. At least we're getting to the NC game! Beats the hell out of having seasons like in the '90s.

Yeah the location of the game was hardly fair.

Yeah the location of the game was hardly fair.


If the team was not so psychologically weak they could handle a hostile crowd, kind of like UF did at LSU.

That and failure to execute in the red zone not once but twice in the first half is another thing

OU did not fail to execute, they were stopped by an SEC defense, something they had never faced in the touch football Big 12.

Gee, I guess those "ESPN guys" know what they are talking about after all.

60 points per game, hah, only in the Big 12.

It amazes me that OU fans have went on this anti Tebow parade, desparaging the QB that owned their team on a national stage.