BCS National Championship: OU’s offense for the ages goes flat
By Jake Trotter - Staff Writer
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66
Published: January 9, 2009
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — As the last seconds ticked away, quarterback Sam Bradford stood on the sidelines. Helmet on. Arms folded.
OU quarterback Sam Bradford (14) walks off the field as Florida's Ahmad Black (35), Joe Haden (5) and Ryan Stamper (41) celebrate after the Sooners could not convert on fourth down during OU's last possession of the BCS National Championship Thursday. Photo by Nate Billings
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Helpless.
When it mattered most, Oklahoma's record-setting scoring machine sputtered in the BCS National Championship at
Dolphin Stadium as Florida rolled past the
Sooners, 24-14.
“Obviously it's very disappointing to end the season on a loss, especially in a game that we felt like we had a chance to win,” Bradford said. “In the first half, we squandered some opportunities to score points.
“That really hurt.”
Twice in the second quarter, college football's No. 1 red-zone offense drove the ball inside the Gator 10-yard line.
Total, the Sooners came up with zero points, proving to be the difference in the two-possession game.
“It broke us,” said guard
Brandon Walker.
Following an interception by
Gerald McCoy that gave the Sooners field position at the Florida 26-yard line,
running back Chris Brown pounded the Gators for 25 yards on three carries down to 1.
But on back-to-back plays, the Sooners couldn't block backup defensive tackle
Torrey Davis.
On third-and-goal, Davis slipped through the line and popped Brown for no gain.
Then on fourth-and-goal, Davis sliced through guard
Brian Simmons and center
Jon Cooper and dropped Brown two yards behind the line of scrimmage — the 12th time in 81 tries all season the Sooners didn't score a touchdown with the ball inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
“That just wasn't us. It was real frustrating,” said left tackle
Phil Loadholt.
“They just won the line of scrimmage,” said offensive coordinator
Kevin Wilson, who noted after the game that maybe a play-action pass would have been the better call in that situation with Florida selling out against the run.
“We probably should have made a better call,” he said.
But later on in the quarter, the Sooners had another chance to take a lead into halftime, moving 74 yards in just over 2 minutes, highlighted by a third-down, 11-yard grab by tight end
Jermaine Gresham down to the Gator 6.
Even though Gresham got out of bounds with 10 seconds left, OU called its last timeout to discuss the next play.
“We were going to throw it in the end zone,” Wilson said, “And if we didn't score, kick the field goal.”
Bradford tried to squeeze a pass to wide receiver
Manny Johnson running a slant route in front of the goal line.
But the ball bounced off Johnson's hands, ricocheted off two Gators, then landed softly in the arms of Florida safety Major Wright for the interception. Had Johnson came up with the catch, however, he likely would've been stopped before scoring and time would've run out.
“Obviously, I wasn't trying to throw an interception, but yeah, we called it, and it actually wasn't the coverage we were expecting to run that play,” said Bradford, who threw for just 111 yards in the second half after that interception. “I tried to force one in there, but I probably should have just thrown it in the back of the end zone and taken the three points.”
Said Johnson, “We moved the ball really well in the first half. We just couldn't capitalize in the red zone.
“That gets you beat.”
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throw out UT-Chattanooga 1-AA. Florida gave up their same seasonal average. OU got
whipped in the Red-Zone and on special teams(FG). Stoops made bad decisions during the
game. Uptempo offense, especially during the 4th quarter didn't allow the defense to get
a "blow", consequently, they were on their heels. You put all this and some other things
together and you get a LOSS. Whether it was 1 pt. or 100, OU got taken to the Wood Shed
again, in a BCS Bowl. 5 straight loss's under this regime. But there are some constants
we can rely on. The sun will come up, the birds will sing, and Stoopsy will count his money.
throw out UT-Chattanooga 1-AA. Florida gave up their same seasonal average. OU got
whipped in the Red-Zone and on special teams(FG). Stoops made bad decisions during the
game. Uptempo offense, especially during the 4th quarter didn't allow the defense to get
a "blow", consequently, they were on their heels. You put all this and some other things
together and you get a LOSS. Whether it was 1 pt. or 100, OU got taken to the Wood Shed
again, in a BCS Bowl. 5 straight loss's under this regime. But there are some constants
we can rely on. The sun will come up, the birds will sing, and Stoopsy will count his money.
You Loosers were on the Texas sites for a week after the BCS awarded you the Big 12 South Championship, showing how arrogant and classless OU fans are.
Now that your team has once agained, showed you can't win a big game... Choke on it!
Its 7:42 pm CST and OU Still sucks!
Here's to the OU bandwagon fans that deserve this: B.H. and L.E.(who never made a fair bet in his life). Chew on this for a year, bandwagon Swooners.
"At least one of these losers is going away a winner." announced Chairman Felix Galulli, "And the other will simply continue with the stigma of being The Biggest Loser."
Bradford didn't have his best night. Wilson tried to confuse the defense so much with all the shifing that it actually slowed the Sooners. We lost, they won, end of story. Still.....Boomer Sooner!
Boomer Swooner
Boomer Swooner
Boomer Swoon.
Amazing how fast the Swooners got away from the passing game that gave them such success over the year.
Oh, well. Time for the Swooners to give Stoops another raise.
I suppose it's for the boost in false hope that the Swooners can beat anyone without cheating like in the old Switzer days.