Berry Tramel, Sports columnist
OU football: Behind the 8 ball
Game will have profound impact on OU football legacy
By Berry Tramel
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52
Published: January 4, 2009
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The 8 ball is a funny sphere.
Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Sam Bradford throws a pass during football practice Barry University in Miami, Saturday Jan. 3, 2009. Oklahoma plays Florida in the BCS Championship NCAA college football game on Thursday, Jan. 8. (AP Photo/Jeffrey M. Boan)
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BCS championship
Oklahoma
vs. Florida
→When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
→Where: Dolphin Stadium, Miami
→TV: FOX (Cox 12)
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Sort of like love and your tax return, the 8 ball can both enrapture and crush. The 8 ball is the avenue to both victory and defeat.
The
Oklahoma Sooners take their third shot at the 8 ball this week. They play Florida in the Big Bowl at
Dolphin Stadium, their third chance in the last six seasons for the storied program’s eighth national championship.
It’s a glorious week in the sun not just of
Miami Beach but of the national spotlight, which Sooners believe to be their annual destiny.
"The national championship is something I’ve dreamed of winning for a long time, and something this team has talked about for a long time,” said OU quarterback
Sam Bradford, who will be the all-time Sooner hero with a victory, able to bookend that crystal trophy with the Heisman hardware he won in December.
But this game is also a tightrope. A high-stakes showdown. All in. Boom or bust. A delicate little shot with that volatile 8 ball.
Beat Florida, and the Sooners not only again rule Mount Gridiron, not only grab that elusive eighth national championship, but they stake claim as this tradition-rich sport’s program of the decade.
But lose, knock this 8 ball into the side pocket, and OU football’s status takes another tumble as the team that can’t win the big one and didn’t deserve the chance in the first place, after multiple BCS controversies. Step aside,
Atlanta Braves, there will be another organization that won a championship but failed to repeat despite years of elite contenders.
That’s a precipitous difference in one little football game that could come down to a kick or a block or a yard of Florida sod.
"The Sooner Nation, I understand they’re hungry, looking for the eighth championship,” said OU safety
Nic Harris. "I’m going to do everything in my power, whatever we have to do to get it.”
Harris is prime example of the bounty championships provide. Many years ago in
Louisiana, Harris was a Florida State fan. Then he watched the Sooner-Seminole Orange Bowl eight years ago, a defensive epic won 13-2 by Oklahoma, and Harris was a convert.
"I was a
Peter Warrick fan,” Harris said. "
Chris Weinke. OU came out and had their way with ’em. Shows what true valor of an underdog can do.”
Tradition is mighty, but it’s also ever-changing. This game will have a profound impact on Sooner football legacy.
For all of
Bob Stoops’ talk about how the past doesn’t matter, how this Oklahoma squadron will rise or fall on its own merits, he doesn’t really believe it.
Stoops knows that tradition counts. Knows that belief based on past success can rise the tides, same as doubt based on past failure can crack the foundation.
Which is why Stoops is all the time turning historian on his Sooners.
"He tells us every day,” said tight end
Jermaine Gresham. "There was great stuff here before we were even born.”
Great stuff since they were born, too. Which is why the Florida showdown has more on the line than just the crystal trophy which will accompany the winners home.
Win this game, and OU will match Southern Cal and LSU with two championships in the 2000s, but without a split title, like the Trojans and Tigers shared in 2003.
Win this game, and suddenly those two BCS losses to LSU and USC go from shame to strength, same as all those
Jack Nicklaus runnerup finishes in majors, giving the Sooners two firsts and two seconds in 2000s title games, a noble record.
Win this game, and the Sooners rank with college basketball’s
Florida Gators, baseball’s Red Sox, the
NFL Patriots and the NBA’s Spurs and Lakers as clear-cut, two-time (or more) champions this decade.
Lose, and OU shoves aside
Ohio State as the team no one wants to invite back to this party.
These Sooners need to win for themselves. These Sooners shouldn’t have to carry the burden of those losses in
New Orleans and here in Baja
Boca Raton. By all rights, they should walk into Dolphin Stadium free of the burden of past failures.
But they won’t. They know the history. They know the stakes. They know that Oklahoma football sits squarely behind the 8 ball.
Berry Tramel: 405-760-8080. Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.
The Magic 8 Ball speaks: We asked the magic 8-ball, and a couple of actual people, a few questions as the Sooners head into the national title game against Florida. It looks like the 8-ball may be a bit of a Gators fan. Also, a look at the Sooners’ numerology of the number eight. On Page 6B
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I do think Mack Brown has found really good coordinators on both sides of the ball, but the desert has a way of producing strange outcomes.
OU and Florida play for the national championship. Hope the best team wins, and hope we're the best team Thursday night. Gr8 night on Jan 8!
Good luck team we will be watching and will celebrate the win here at home. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22382241/?pg=6#spt_FBC_team_of_decade
Good luck team we will be watching and will celebrate the win here at home. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22382241/?pg=6#spt_FBC_team_of_decade
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls08/news/story?id=3809361
The only thing he/she's wrong about is the assertions that someone would or wouldn't win a game. You can't know that. Who knows who would or wouldn't beat Utah in a single game. Or OU or Florida. Heck. You could replay Utah/Bama 5 times and Bama could win all 5.
But, the notion that a one loss USC's big win in the Rose Bowl, or Utah being undefeated cheapens the national championship is right on. Oh, I won't complain if OU wins. And if Florida wins, they will have earned it. But, the argument for a legit playoff is there, and the arguments against having a playoff just don't hold water.
Such as:
1) It cheapens the regular season - Whatever. Conference championships will be the main way into the "postseason." Every game still counts and inter-sectional rivalries (like OU-Texas) will still be GameDay worthy. As far as the non-conference goes - now you can schedule at least one big name and a loss doesn't kill you, while a win gets huge bragging rights. They could start having conference vs. conference challenges just like basketball. Imagine a Big 10 vs. Big 12 challenge. OU plays Ohio St., Texas plays Penn St., Nebraska plays Michigan, etc.
2) You can't have the season span two semesters - There's no reason why it should. They only recently added the 12th game, which makes 13 or 14 for those teams that have a conference championship and then a bowl game. With a little simple reorganization, an 8 team playoff after a 12 game regular season would involve extending the season to 13 games for 8 teams, 14 games for 4 teams and 15 games for the two that make it all the way through. I don't think they would complain.
The Bowls are quickly becoming irrelevant too. Playing on New Year's Day doesn't mean much any more, since they've started putting the big games on other days in January, while mixing in real winners like the "International Bowl" and the "GMAC Bowl." Reduce bowls to about 20 total, and reinvigorate the big ones by tying them into the playoff.
Those are just two of the most common arguments against. There are a lot of other arguments, and they're all just as easy to refute.
Under the current system, that's more of a dream than a possibility. What is clear is the winners of the Mountain West Conference proved they could soundly defeat one of the Southeastern Conference's best - an Alabama team that spent more than a month atop the rankings."
That Florida-Oklahoma national title game is getting more minimized by the moment."
was DeCo. Has won 1 out of 5 since Venables has been DeCo. See anything odd about
that. Look back at the Sooner D. before Mike and after during those seasons. This is
Stoops 4th NC game in 10 years, won 1 so far. Switzer beat Fla. St. in the Orange Bowl
2 years in a row during his first 10 seasons, lost 1 bowl and won 2 NC's in his first 10
(probation 74-75 season no bowl). Buds record speaks for itself. I'd have a smile ear
to ear like Stoops if I woke up NewsYears morn. and had a $3mill. dollar bill in my hand.
If you are going to print glorified articles about Bob then the stats. on his teams need
to be aired out. Switzer and Bud had hardcore defenseive teams, nation leading on both
sides of the ball, game preparation, focus. Lets have some real comparison articles, not
just "Bob Fluff". Defense wins Championships. According to the Bowls so far, Oregon State
is better than Penn. State. Oregon is better than OU, Mississippi is better than Texas, Utah
is equal to Fla.. Look at the D stats of the games I mentioned, it matters. During the season
the Big 12 is good, but when they are matched up against an equal or less opponent from
another conference during bowls they are over-matched. Look at the History since the
Big 12 was formed, stats. don't lie.
Well said... A.P. Smay-Pee
The BCS decides the champion of College football. Giving USC one title in the 2000's. The AP poll is as meaningless as Jillian's poll. Who's Jillian, who cares! She's a big K-State fan and thinks they're number one every year. That's who.
Of course if Berry was a real reporter, or didn't get every bit of his sports information from someone on ESPN, who runs the AP poll, he'd know that the AP was meaningless in deciding the National Champion.