Ranking the 30 Greatest National Championship Games
By Zach Bigalke
4. 2009 BCS National Championship
#2 Florida d. #1 Oklahoma 24-14
BEFORE THE GAME
The BCS was faced with the specter of several strong teams after the final weekend of the 2008 regular season. Between November 16 and December 7, the last four BCS rankings of the year featured five different teams in the top two spots. No team finished the year without a loss on its record, and it came down to the human polls and the computer rankings to parse out which among the flawed conference champions was most worthy of the chance to play for the crystal pigskin.
Pac-10 champion USC lost at Oregon State on the last Thursday of September, but since that time they had rattled off nine straight wins to run away with the conference title. SEC champion Florida was taken down by Ole Miss at home two days after the Trojans lost in Corvallis, and their win over then-undefeated Alabama in the SEC title game effectively eliminated the Tide from contention. Penn State lost by a point at Iowa in late November. All three lost to opponents that finished the season 9-4, but it was the Gators who ultimately got the benefit of the doubt after winning the title two years earlier.
They faced an Oklahoma team that was ranked first overall but that had questions of its own. The Big 12 South was the most contentious division in the FBS in 2008, as the Sooners finished in a three-way tie with Texas and Texas Tech. Oklahoma had lost to the Longhorns in the Red River Shootout by 10 and defeated the Red Raiders by 44 in Norman. Texas Tech had knocked off the Longhorns by six in Lubbock. The BCS rankings were used to decide which of the trio played Missouri in the Big 12 championship, and Oklahoma leapfrogged Texas in the penultimate rankings of the season. Getting to play in the title game, Bob Stoops’ squad obliterated Mizzou and moved into the top spot vacated by Alabama.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The past two Heisman winners were set to battle in Miami for the top prize in college football. Tim Tebow, the 2007 recipient, got his team on the board first when he found Louis Murphy for a 20-yard score less than a minute into the second quarter. Sam Bradford, the reigning holder of the Heisman, responded by finding Jermaine Gresham on the following drive for a six-yard touchdown. The defenses otherwise held firm for the rest of the first half, and the Sooners and Gators were gridlocked at 7-7 at halftime.
Percy Harvin capped a long Florida drive with a two-yard scoring run midway through the third quarter to give the Gators a seven-point lead. Oklahoma had a 49-yard field goal attempt blocked on the ensuing drive, but the next time the Sooners got the ball Bradford and Gresham connected again to tie the score at 14-14 early in the fourth quarter. Florida regained the lead on a field goal, and then Bradford was intercepted in Gators territory on the next series. That allowed Tebow to ice the game with his second TD pass of the game, this time to David Nelson from four yards out, and the UF defense forced a four-and-out on Oklahoma’s last drive to seal the school’s second national championship in three seasons.