Chokelahoma

The Oklahoma Sooners squandered an opportunity for an eighth national title last night in the national championship game. Give all the credit to Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes for leading a determined Florida effort.

The truth of the matter is that as much as the aforementioned Gator trio helped the Gator nation, the Oklahoma Sooners lost this game more than Florida won it. Oklahoma finished 5th in the country in Red Zone scoring percentage at a 93% clip. Oklahoma failed twice to score in the Red Zone against the Gators. Furthermore, crucial turnovers also limited the formerly potent Oklahoma offense to only 14 points. Previous to entering the Pro Player Stadium, the Sooners scored the most points in the history of college football in a single season.

I blame coaching. Oklahoma was not “out-athleted”, they simply played very conservative and their attack was very vanilla. So vanilla that it was the attack of Braum's, Blue Bell, and Ben and Jerry's. Charlie Strong blitzed early and often and also added a new wrinkle putting Janoris Jenkins on Ryan Broyles in the slot more similar to an NFL defensive scheme than a college one and it really stifled the Sooners all night. Another big reason that the Sooners were limited offensively was the absence of Demarco Murray, whose jitterbug style and break away speed was sorely missed as Chris brown’s straight ahead style was not as effective as Murray’s would have been if he was healthy. The Oklahoma defense was stellar holding the Gators to 24 points and really giving the Sooners ample opportunity to win the game on the offensive end.

You really have to hang this loss on Bob Stoops and the Sooner offensive game plan, which stunk even though there was still opportunity to win. A birdie has sent me a message saying that as of last night David Boren confirmed that Stoops was leaving to take the head-coaching job for the Denver Broncos. I don’t know how true this is but it may be the motivation OU needs to take their game to the next level.

Oklahoma reigns dominant over college football besides games that matter, which is basically an oxymoron. To lose half of the last 6 national championships is unacceptable. Furthermore, the only title that Stoops won was with what was on of his least talented teams at OU with John Blake's players. Superman(Tebow) and Spikes should garner praise as great leaders for Florida, but is was Oklahoma’s lack of an on field leader that was the impetus downfall for the Sooners throwing a national title in the trash once again.

Sincerely,




Big Game Clayborne

What Florida Needs to Do to Win

The Gators need to be who they are to win the game. Who are the Gators? The fastest team in America that's who. Jeff Demps, Brandon James, Chris Rainey, Percy Harvin, Joe Haden, etc. Speed kills and the Gators will need it to defeat the Sooners.

Offense

The Gators do not need to worry much about the Sooners defense. It sucks bottom line. The way Florida went blow for blow with the vaunted Alabama defense shows me that they will have no problem with the Sooners defense. Stay balanced with Tebow, Demps, and Rainey in the run game. Harvin should be back to full speed, and if not a 3/4 speed Percy Harvin is still a threat at anytime to break a big play. Wideouts David Nelson and Riley Cooper showed they can step up and perform well if called on. The Gators' 3rd ranked scoring offense versus the Sooners 58th ranked scoring defense has the clear advantage.

Defense

The Gators defense will be the key to the game. The Sooners have yet to face a defense this fast this season. The defensive line doesn't have big name stars that are known to the world, but all four of these guys are emerging. The linebacking core is solid, and Brandon Spikes, a first team All-American is the heart and sould of the defense, and the best player. He is able to defend the pass and the run, leading the Gators in tackles with 87 and second on the team with 4 picks.

The Gators have to get substitutes in and out the game fast dealing with the Sooners no huddle offense. Sam Bradford must be rattled for the Gators to win. He cannot stand comfortable in the pocket and pick apart the secondary. The Gators can get pressure on Bradford with their front four, but Bradford is athletic enough to dodge the one defender that will get through, and still be able to make the pass down field. This is why the Gators must blitz the Sooners with a vengeance. The Florida linebackers have enough speed to get to the Bradford before he can make the hot-read and get the throw off accurately.

Sooners RB Chris Brown is very efficient and backup Mossis Madu will provide some of the explosion lost with RB Demarco Muarry out of the game. Florida needs to be weary of quick hit running plays, draws and screens.

Special Teams

Mardy Gilyard and Jordan Shipley ring a bell. Both wideouts ran back kickoffs against the Sooners this season. Many other KR have gotten huge chunks of yards against the Sooners kickoff coverage. If Brandon James is able to break one for a score it could be the difference in the game. Also, the Sooners will score against the Gators, so James will have beaucoups of opportunities to return kicks, so even if he doesn't break the long one, his 23.6 KO return average will take a huge boost against the Sooners shotty coverage placing the Gators in great field position all game long.

If the Gators listen to me, they will win.

Peace,


Ricky Writer

Can OU Win?

It’s true that Oklahoma has spent the entire season making teams look like JV squads en route to breaking an NCAA record with 702 total points. It’s also true that Heisman winning QB Sam Bradford has put up numbers gaudier than Slick Rick. What’s not true is that the Sooners have done any of this against the country’s top defenses, aside from TCU.

For the Sooners to roll on to a national championship, Bradford is going to have to first prove that his numbers weren’t just for show, or to ensure a Heisman, and that he can do to Florida’s number 8 ranked defense what he has done to so many other sub par Ds this year. As if this may not be a hard enough task for Bradford and the Sooners, they will be without second leading rusher DeMarco Murray, who has undergone surgery to repair a ruptured hamstring tendon, making the spotlight on Bradford even brighter.

Don’t expect the sooner D to shy away from Tim Tebow or the Gators versatile offense, especially after comments from Tebow claiming that he’d like to have a crack at a Big XII defense, and the buzz those comments have created. The fact remains that the Big XII (particularly the Big XII South) was the best conference in the nation this year, while on the surface it appears that the SEC was down from top to bottom. A closer look would show you, though, that the Gators O has put up some pretty gaudy numbers of its own against some pretty stingy defenses (and higher ranked than most of those faced by the Sooners). What this means is that there may be more pressure on the Sooner D to stop Tebow and his weapons than there is on Bradford to pile up points.

The bottom line here is that while they are the higher ranked team, there is more pressure on the Sooners (on both sides of the ball) to show up on Thursday than there is on the Gators, which may not bode well for any fans hoping for a chance at a Boomer Sooner chant.

Peace,


Mr. Dix

Wildcard Weekend Review

You all saw the games, hopefully so I'm not going to tell you things you already know, rather I'm just going to give you a look at the weekend from my huge round big eyes.

Colts vs. Bolts

Darren Sproles is a monster. He's played this way all his life and its a great time for fans to take notice and NFL GMs especially since Sproles' contract is up this season.

The Colts had plenty of chances to put the game away, so even though the late defensive holding call against Colts CB Tim Jennings was very bogus, the Colts have no one to blame but themselves.

NFL OT rules suck. Peyton Manning, the NFL MVP, didn't even get to see the field in overtime. Yes, defense wins championships, but it is still not fair. Both teams should touch the ball on offense. It all comes down to a coin toss and who gets the ball first. In this past season, 9 of the that went into OT were decided in the first possession.

Falcons vs. Cardinals

The final score does not indicate how well the Cardinals controlled this game. They held the leagues second leading rusher, Michaedl Turner, to only 60 yards. A season low for him. You know the Cards are going to put up points, but with Edgerrin James gaining 73 yards and the defense stepping up, it was a no brainer who would win. Matt Ryan played well going 26 for 40 for 199 and 2 td strikes, but he also threw 2 picks. Either way, Cards deserved to win, and the Falcons had a great season.

Ravens vs. Dolphins

The Dolphins had a league low 13 turnovers in 16 games this season. When you don't turn the ball over you win games which is why the Fins won the AFC East this season. Well yesterday they didnt stick to their bread and butter, which is smart football. The Fins turned the ball over 5 times yesterday, a season high. The Ravens are good, but don't give them any help by beating yourselves which is exactly what the Dolphins did. Ed Reed balled out as usual, picking off two passes and taking one back 64 yards to the house.

Eagles vs. Vikings

Quarterbacks are pretty important. Both teams turned the ball over twice. It was a hard fought game. Adrian Peterson was nuetralized all game as was Brian Westbrook, yes they both had two huge plays but they weren't the reason that the Eagles won or the Vikings lost. The QBs were. Stat line, please.

Donovan McNabb

23 of 34 passing for 300 yards, 1 touchdown vs. 1 pick

Tavaris Jackson

15 of 35 passing for 164 yards, no tds vs. 1 pick



Peace Out,


Francis White, Jr.

NFL Wildcard Playoff JIMMYS

The Wildcard weekend did not disappoint. Several players balled out, but these two out-shined them all.
Darren Sproles, Chargers RB

When LT went down with an injury the Bolts didn't skip a beat because "Little Tank" as he is known stepped in played lights out. (Shout out to Shawn Merriman) Sproles had 326 all purpose yards and 2Tds. His last touchdown was the game winning touchdown to move the Chargers onto the Divisional Playoff round.
Ed Reed, Ravens FS

My man crush on Ed Reed the football player, superstar safety, best safety to ever live, best center fielder not playing baseball and coldest thing to ever play the game of football continues. It was a regular day for Mr. Reed. 1 tackle, 2 picks, one returned for a touchdown. He was tripping the the 4th quarter, however, when he let a possible third pick go right through his hands.


Peace,

Frank White, Jr.

The Other National Championship Game

The Fiesta Bowl pits the No. 3 ranked Texas Longhorns vs. the No. 10 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.

We all know Texas got screwed by the Big 12 conference tiebreaker rules. Although the Horns will not be in BCS championship game, they can still win the AP title. Currently Florida has 50 first place votes, OU 9, and UT 6. If OU beats Florida, those 50 votes are up in the air and depending on how both games go Texas still has a chance for a split national championship. The last time a split title happened was the 2003 season when OU slid in the back door to play in the BCS title game against LSU in the Sugar Bowl while USC was on the outside looking in and took their frustrations out on an under match Michigan Wolverine squad in a 28-14 USC victory.

Texas boasts Hesiman trophy runner up, Colt Mccoy, to lead their offense. Mccoy has completed 78 percent of his passed for 3,445 yards and 32 tds with only 7 picks. Mccoy also moonlights as a running back leading the team with 576 yards rushing and 10 tds.

The UT defense is led by Bronko Nagurski award winner Brian Orakpo. Orakpo had 35 tackles, 9 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, 23 QB pressures, and 3 forced fumbles.

The OSU offense is led by Junior tailback Beanie Wells who rushed for 1,091 yards and 8tds. Freshman QB Terrelle Pryor and Senior WR Brian Robiskie also put up points for the Buckeye offense. Pryor has only showed his age very few times this season as he plays with great poise throwing 12Tds to only 4 picks with a 152 QB rating. Robiskie did himself a service by staying in school for another year and is giving Pryor a reliable deep threat target by catching 37 balls with 8 of them being touchdown grabs.

The Buckeye defense is lead by Senior LB James Laurinaitis, who was voted consensus All-American for the third straight season with 121 tackles and 4 sacks. Thorpe award winner Malcolm Jenkins leads the Buckeye secondary. Jenkins opted to stay in school this past season rather than to hit the league the extra year experienced has certainly helped. He has only picked off 3 passes this year, but teams do not throw his way often.

Who's gonna win?

The spread is for the Longhorns -8. However the Longhorns have not faced this Buckeye defense or any other defense this good for that matter. While the Buckeyes have faced an offense as prolific as the Longhorns, when they faced USC in the 2nd week of the season this year and lost bad to the Trojans. I think Texas hasn't quite gotten over being screwed by its own conference and look for them to take this as a concellation game and not a great opporutinty to play in a BCB bowl game. Look for OSU to beat Texas 21 to 17.

Peace,

Ricky Writer

Darren Sproles Days Are Numbered

Michael Turner, starting running back for the Atlanta Falcons, played second fiddle to Chargers star RB Ladanian Tomlinson for four years. When given the opportunity, Turner balled out, so well that the Falcons took a risk on a player who was never a feature back by giving him a 6 year $34.5 million dollar contract. Turner didn't disappoint either, leading the Falcons to the playoffs and being 2nd in MVP voting this year. Could Darren Sproles be the next Chargers backup RB to get paid this off-season?

Sproles, a fourth-round pick in 2005, will be a free agent at the end of this year. He is a great returner, has good speed, even better quickness and is tougher than you would expect. Coming into the league he was thought to be only a 3rd down back. Like Turner, when provided the opportunity, Sproles has not only played well, but made some fans utter Ladanian who?

His 326 all purpose yard and 2 touchdown effort effort this past weekend in the Wildcard game against the favored Indianapolis Colts put Sproles in the driver's seat of a big time contract this off-season.

The Chargers only main free agency concerns other than Sproles will be RT Jeromey Clary and Guard Mike Goff. Look for Clary to get resigned because he is more talented and younger and for Goff to bolt(no pun intended) to another team.

So what is Chargers management to do? Pay a back up like you would a starter because the back up plays like he should start but the current starter, Ladanian Tomlinson, is a better starter than the back up Darren Sproles who could start for several teams in the NFL? Yes, everyone in the NFL wants to get paid, but it is so much more fun when you get paid and you play a starter's role. This is why I think no matter how much the Chargers put on the table, Sproles wants to start and its not gonna happen in San Diego, so Sproles will be gone at season's end. Heck, the Yankees couldn't resign Sproles if they couldn't promise him the starting gig.

When Sproles does sign his deal this year, he'll have to pay homage to Warrick Dunn and Brian Westbrook who have made it possible for "little guy" running backs to succeed as every down backs in the NFL.

There is something in that San Diego water, because Marcus Allen and Reggie Bush both hail from the 619. LT and Michael Turner have made huge impressions on the league thus far in their careers and now Sproles is making his mark. Chargers management shouldn't take the Sproles loss to hard, they've proven by drafting LT, Turner and Sproles that they know what a good back looks like so they'll have no trouble replacing Sproles in this year's up coming draft.

Good work D-Sproles.

Sincerely,

Rajean Pierre Louis