BCS Championship Analysis
The long bowl schedule finally comes to an end Thursday night as the college football betting season concludes with the BCS Championship Game between Oklahoma and Florida.
This could be a high-scoring affair with two of the top offenses in college football squaring off. Oklahoma was the highest-scoring team in the nation this season, averaging a whopping 54 points per game, while Florida was third overall, averaging 45.2 points per game. It’s no wonder the total for the championship was set high at 70 on the college football odds.
This game also features a tremendous battle at quarterback between the last two Heisman Trophy winners. The reigning Heisman winner, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, goes head-to-head with last year’s Heisman recipient, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. Bradford had a monster season for Oklahoma, passing for 4,464 yards with 48 touchdown strikes, the most in college football this season. Tebow was unable to match his stats from his Heisman-winning campaign, but he still put up solid numbers, passing for 2,515 yards with 28 touchdowns and only two interceptions and also rushing for 564 yards and 12 scores.
The Sooners’ offense didn’t rely solely on Bradford this season, though. Oklahoma was just as explosive on the ground and boasted a pair of running backs who rushed for more than 1,000 yards. Chris Brown ran for 1,110 yards and 20 touchdowns on 195 carries, and DeMarco Murray had 179 carries for 1,002 yards and 14 touchdowns. However, in the championship game Brown will have to carry a heavier load with Murray sidelined with a hamstring injury. Oklahoma’s two-pronged offensive attack was on full display at the end of the season, as the Sooners scored over 60 points in each of their last five games, including destroying Missouri 62-21 in the Big 12 Championship.
For Florida in their conference title game it was all Tebow, as he led the Gators to victory in a 31-20 win over Alabama after passing for 216 yards with three touchdowns and rushing for 57 yards on 17 carries. The Gators were missing one of their biggest offensive weapons in that game with Percy Harvin out with an injured ankle. Harvin, who rushed for 538 yards and nine touchdowns and recorded 595 receiving yards and seven TD catches, is expected to play on Thursday.
With both Oklahoma and Florida boasting explosive offenses the real difference-maker in Thursday night’s game could be the defenses, where the Gators appear to have the clear edge. Florida finished the season fifth in points allowed after giving up only 12.8 points per game this season and eighth overall in yards after allowing 279.3 yards per game. The Gators’ secondary was especially strong, finishing second in the nation in interceptions with 24. The Sooners defense gave up 24.5 points per game during the season, which isn’t too bad when you consider they played in college football’s toughest division, the Big 12 South, which included four of the top nine offenses in the nation.
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is 8:00pm eastern at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida. The venue basically makes this a home game for the Gators and their fans, who have far less of a distance to travel to support their team.
