Go Gators

I would like the OU team more if the team weren't nicknamed after a group of law-breaking cheaters.

If you're not a Gator...

...you're GATOR BAIT!

Its a Big-12 "We play 4 cupcakes and then don't play our whole conference in a fair round-robin" team against an SEC "We play 4 cupcakes and then don't play our whole conference in a fair round-robin" team.

I'm a huge fan of my alma mater when it comes to football and often go to extraordinary lengths to catch their games, even though I no longer live local and often cannot just turn on the TV to watch them play.

However, I'm about as interested in this BCS championship as I am in having an 18th century dentist perform surgery on my teeth. Its a meaningless game which will not prove anything.

Mvargus,

OU's four cupcakes included 11-3 (Big East Champion) Cincinnati and 11-2 TCU. Washington stunk, true, and OU was forced to schedule a I-AA opponent after Clemson backed out.

Florida played 7-7 Hawai'i (2007 Sugar Bowl loser), 9-4 Florida State, and 7-6 Miami. I don't know the circumstances of scheduling The Citadel, but they are the only "cupcake" on their schedule.

Conference schedules are what they are, but teams that play a round robin schedule don't have to play in a conference championship - i.e. playoff - game.

Tonight's game is a match up of two fantastically talented teams; too bad you refuse to enjoy the game for what it is instead of complaining about what it isn't.

My wife and I have watched every episode of American Idol since it began. If it weren't for that and Biggest Loser, TV would have no redeeming value whatsoever.

Carl F:
Thanks for redefining Biggest Loser!!

I've lived in Oklahoma for over twenty years, and I have never been a Sooner fan.

In the mid-80's it was easy, because they were consistently a winning team. But many Sooner fans were remarkably rude, walking out of games if the team had a comfortable lead in the second half and showing a disturbing amount of disrespect to the teams (and fans) from Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska.

When the corruption of the OU program was exposed in 1988 and Barry Switzer resigned, you would have thought that the Great Tribulation was upon Oklahoma. Fans were still incredibly rude, particularly to coach Gary Gibbs. Even though the team was handicapped by NCAA penalties and lost the ability to recruit top players, fans pilloried Gibbs mercilessly without ever really giving him a chance.

In the mid-90's it got even worse. Howard Schellenberger and John Blake were both unfortunate head coaching picks, but the lack of respect that many "fans" showed the school and the team was heartbreaking for me. During the John Blake years, Memorial Stadium was half-empty during home games. People peeled OU stickers off their cars (no, I'm not making this up!)and you literally couldn't give game tickets away.

By that time, I became convinced that a lot (though not all, of course) of OU's "fans" were really just fans of winning and piling on other teams, rather than honest supporters of the school and its athletic program.

I say this as a native of Texas, from a town whose fans set two of the top ten high school playoff attendance records, including the top spot, 49,953 fans packed into the Astrodome for the 1977 4A football championship against Plano, and continued to turn out over 7,000 fans per home game even during years when the team went 1-9. We never booed a coach, never booed players, and never gave up on the team.

Tonight I'll be at my in-laws, secretly hoping that OU chokes up just so I can snicker while everyone else mopes.

I'm a kind soul, arent't I?

I guess I should make it clear that I've never hated OU or its team per se. I've just always be aggrivated by the poor attitudes of so many fickle football fans. Because of that, I (rightly or wrongly) enjoy delighting in their misery.

I guess I'm confused about why 3 stories in 2 days about SPORTS have appeared on Wizbang, when Kevin specifically has a Wizbang Sports section set up.

BVO:

What's "whinging"? ;-)

For someone who doesn't want to see "NFL-lite"-like playoffs instituted, you sure are excited for college football's "Super Bowl". Talk about NFL-lite. If they're going to emulate the NFL, they may as well do it the right way and get rid of the system that emulates figure skating to get there.

At any rate, due to what I've seen out of the Big 12 this year during the regular season and the bowl season, I don't think Oklahoma is ready for the kind of defense Florida is going to unleash on them tonight. No offense to Oklahoma and their fans, of course, but IMHO, Florida will win it going away. Unfortunately, I think the Heisman curse will live for another year.

Good luck to both teams, and let's hope nobody gets injured.

"I guess I'm confused about why 3 stories in 2 days about SPORTS have appeared on Wizbang, when Kevin specifically has a Wizbang Sports section set up."

Oh. That's whinging. Nevermind.

I'm sorry, it's just talking about a specific team or game is a very narrow topic and sports are usually discussed on the other page. I actually can't stand Florida. First they've made my Buckeye's look stupid multiple times in the past few years, and secondly, Urban Meyer left my alma mater (Bowling Green) high and dry when he left them to go to Florida. I hope OU breaks out of the bowl game funk and wins tonight.

The winner should have to play Utah.

Ray, Urban Meyer left UTAH to go coach Florida.

I would like the OU team more if the team weren't nicknamed after a group of law-breaking cheaters.

Their team name is the Oklahoma Democrats??

I hate to take away from the accomplishments of Florida or Oklahoma, but the University of Utah already won the national championship this year. They are the only undefeated team. They are 4-0 vs. teams currently in the AP top 25. Oklahoma is 4-1, and Florida is 2-1. I don't see any reason why we all shouldn't just say they are the National Champs.

Ryan, he left BG, went to Utah and then to Florida, it's the gist that he left BG and ended up at Florida.

Utah is the champ. OU and FU are just wanna-be's with major media suck-up.

If you haven't read Rick Reilly's article on ESPN.com regarding the true national champion, it is worth every word in my opinion. I especially like how he takes it to the NCAA. Best article I have seen on the subject. And oh yeah....Utes are the national champs.

I hate to split hairs, but if OU wins tonight they will be 5-1 against teams currently in the AP top thirteen, 6-1 against ranked teams including #25 Missouri.

That's half their schedule.

Half of the I-A teams on Utah's schedule had a losing record.

Compare and contrast.

Under the current system, we'll never know who the national champion really should be and until people stop watching the bowl games it's going to stay that way. Money rules major college football and things won't change until there is a better way for them to make more money.

Big pick there, BVO. Hey. If you add an "E" to your initials in just the right spot...oh noes!

:-)

Sorry Baron. I feel your pain. Really. I had to live 2006/2007 (and as a result, 2007/2009) several times over tonight.

Gah. 2007/2008.

Not to worry, the game is over and the Florida Gators won 24 - 14.

Gator Nation

Utah plays a schedule that ANY team from the SEC could mop the floor with its third string players.
Come back when they play ranked teams all season long, and win.

"Utah plays a schedule that ANY team from the SEC could mop the floor with its third string players.
Come back when they play ranked teams all season long, and win."

That's all fine and dandy speculation, there buddy. Like I said, in a fair system, Utah should play Florida next week to decide it.

"Utah plays a schedule that ANY team from the SEC could mop the floor with its third string players.
Come back when they play ranked teams all season long, and win."

Alabama disagrees.

> Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis will whip your ass call the game.

Watching the game on Fox has two positives - Barry Switzer in the studio ...

I found a nifty way to watch. I noticed that the second audio channel (the MTS thing) was active. The TV display said that was for the Spanish language. I hit the button to hear what the game sounded like in Spanish and was surprised to hear that there were NO announcers! They just had the audio of the crowd and the game. You could clearly hear the crunch of the tackles and the quarterbacks calling signals since there was no announcer to talk over it. The stadium announcer and referee calls were also easily audible.

Since I didn't know these teams all that well (casual fan) I used the regular audio for most of the game but if you're annoyed by announcers you should check out the alternate audio. I'll be trying it for the playoffs this weekend.

Nice trophy your boys got, Gmac.

Too bad they didn't EARN it.