Picks for Thurs. January 8th
I wasn't going to say anything about this BCS champ. game but I've watched the line continue to grow since the opening line was set at 1.5, and it's been hit hard the past couple days. Everyone seems to be playing the Gators and driving the line up. I liked the Sooners at +3, so I would definitely advise them at +5. I don't think anyone can stop this explosive offense, and I don't think the Gators will be able to keep up. I think the Sooners win SU but I would take the 5 points:
OKLAHOMA +5
But it's too bad that the best team in the country is not even in this game. They already won the Rose Bowl.
posted by jdelt88
10 replies
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0 likes
BCS Championship Game
Florida Gators -4 (GOY)
My Record as of Jan/1/09 8-0-1 posted plays fade me bitches go ahead
GL
posted by takis28
Jan. 8 2009 6:20am -
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Wow...Takis is EN FEUGO and now a GOY play on Florida -4. I haven't posted in a while, but have been checking the boards. Anyway, as a Charter Member I feel the need to get back in it baby!
I agree with my friend from The Great White North, and Gators is the pick. I also love the OVER tonight and here's why. Although most big bowl games this year have gone UNDER the total, these teams will be hard to stop. They know they need to score 30+ to win this game and more likely 40+. The weather looks good in Miami and NO ONE has stopped these offenses all year. As JDelt points out, Oklahoma is insanely effective on Offense. They have scored at least 35 pts in every game and average 54. Florida averages 47+ and will have to keep up. Oklahoma's defense is prone to giving up big plays and Florida's speed on offense will be extraordinary. They know they need to get to 40 to win this game and they certainly should get there. Tebow + Bradford = 80+ pts tonight IMO!
So my 2 BIG plays for tonight are:
Florida -5 (just bet it today)
OVER 69 1/2
Also, props to PC for keeping the posts coming. Keep the Valley plays coming bro, you know that conference better than anyone so thanks for the insight. Now let's see some more picks for the big game tonight GPers!!!
posted by honicky23
Jan. 8 2009 12:17pm -
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It just goes to show you that when you see a line you like, you better jump on it. I liked Florida at -4, but now that it's 5.5, I'm not so sure. I'm watching this game start to finish and I'd like to have some action, but I'm really torn. Any thoughts?
Hockey pick of the night. Bos -270…….ahh just kidding. In this NHL, -270 is never worth it, although I think Bos will kick some ass.
TB +138
posted by sherlock37
Jan. 8 2009 12:19pm -
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READING MATERIAL GL BOYS LET'S GO GATORS
1) Florida (12-1) vs. (2) Oklahoma (12-1)
Thursday, January 8th, 8:17 p.m. (et)
The Sports Network
By Scott Haynes, Senior College Football Editor
GAME NOTES: The top two teams in the country will meet in the third-annual FedEx BCS National Championship game, as the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners square off at Dolphin Stadium in Miami this Thursday, with the national title on the line.
Urban Meyer's Gators are no stranger to this game, as they won the inaugural BCS Title Game two years ago, with a thorough whipping of the Ohio State Buckeyes (41-14). The majority of the competition in 2008 can certainly attest to how the Buckeyes felt in that game, as outside of a humbling setback at home to Ole Miss in late September (31-30), the Gators have rolled over their foes, including lopsided wins against Tennessee (30-6), Georgia (49-10) and Florida State (45-15) outside of Gainesville and an equally impressive performance against LSU (51-21) at home. The result was yet another SEC East crown, setting up a showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide for the SEC Title in early December. When the smoke cleared, Florida earned a 31-20 victory and a spot in the national title game.
This game represents Florida's 18th straight bowl game and 36th bowl appearance overall (16-19). It is also the fifth BCS Bowl game for the Gators, who have gone 3-1 in the four prior outings, including winning the national championship two years ago.
Bob Stoops' Sooners earned the right to play in this game by winning the Big 12 title in impressive fashion. Like the Gators, Oklahoma had one little bump in the road, that being a 45-35 setback to Texas on October 11th. To the Sooners' credit, the team ran off seven straight wins after that and closed out the year with five consecutive 60+ point performances, including a 62-21 rout of Missouri in the Big 12 Title Game.
Stoops knows what his team is facing in this contest.
"We are excited about the opportunity to play a great Florida team. Urban Meyer and his staff have done a great job there and they are a very talented team when you look at them with their speed and skill. Really in all parts, you look at them offensively they like to spread it around to all the positions and they can run it with big time players. And of course their quarterback Tim Tebow is one of the best in the country. Defensively, it's the same thing. They have a lot of skill and speed on defense. Up front, in the front seven you really see it. They are solid in everything that they do scheme wise and in special teams they a very detailed and well thought out in their schemes in all that they do. It is a big challenge and an exciting one at that and looking forward to the challenge."
The Sooners have won seven national titles since 1950 with the latest coming in 2000. and boast of a 24-16-1 all-time bowl record. The team is making its 10th straight bowl appearance, but has struggled in the postseason of late, losing two straight bowl games and four of the last five overall.
This is surprisingly the first-ever meeting between these two storied programs on the gridiron.
The Gator offense is a big reason why the team is in a position to win its second national title in the last three years. It certainly doesn't hurt to have a Heisman Trophy winner running the show in Tebow. The junior signal- caller, who won the Heisman as a sophomore, was a finalist this year, after leading an offense that had little trouble moving the football both on the ground (229.8 ypg) or through the air (212.6 ypg). Tebow was certainly a big part of that, passing for 2,515 yards and 28 TDs against a mere two interceptions. The talented field general also rushed for well over 500 yards, with another 12 TDs on the ground. The biggest difference between this year and last for Tebow, is his supporting cast, as he is no longer the primary weapon on this side of the football. That title has to go to the versatile Percy Harvin, who was a handful both in the backfield (538 rushing yards, nine TDs) and on the outside (35 receptions, 595 yards, seven TD receptions). Other key contributors include freshmen tailbacks Chris Rainey (team-high 655 yards, four TDs) and Jeff Demps (582 yards, seven TDs) and senior wideout Louis Murphy (36 receptions, 611 yards, six TDs).
The offense gets a great deal of the attention in Gainesville, but more often than not, it was the play of the Florida defense that put the offense in position to score. The Gators ranked second in the country this season with 24 interceptions and made the biggest plays when it counted the most, ranking first in the nation with 12 interceptions against top-25 foes. That was despite having several youngsters force-fed early on. The overall numbers on the year certainly give credence to the notion that Florida has moved up to one of the nation's premier defensive teams. The Gators allowed just 279.3 yards of total offense per game, showing equal disdain for the run (105.3 ypg) and the pass (174.0 ypg). The team amassed 33 takeaways in all and also excelled at getting after opposing QBs, with 32 sacks.
Playmakers abound on this side of the football as well for Florida, starting with Brandon Spikes. The junior middle linebacker paced the team in total tackles this year (87), with 8.0 TFLs, two sacks and four interceptions. The secondary play was highlighted by sophomore DBs Joe Haden (77 tackles, three INTs, 10 PBUs) and Ahmad Black (54 tackles, six INTs) and freshman Janoris Jenkins (34 tackles, three INTs). Leading the charge along the defensive front were sophomore Carlos Dunlap (35 tackles, 12.0 TFLs, 9.0 sacks) and junior Jermaine Cunningham (51 tackles, 10.0 TFLs, 6.0 sacks).
Spikes credits the maturation of the younger players on defense for Florida's defensive tenacity this season.
"Well, I think we had a lot of younger guys just step up to the plate. They made a personal decision, and they wanted to come out and play Florida tradition defense. I think we've done that. Our off-season that was a really big part of it, younger guys kind of attack there, and we took that in and knew if we worked on it in the off-season it would pay off, and I think that's what happened this season. We've been playing good every Saturday, and stepping stones -- you know, after we got beat by Ole Miss that was the reality check for us that we were beatable and guys started doing all the smaller things, and it kind of worked out for us."
The Gators will face their toughest challenge to date on defense, as Oklahoma closed the regular season out as perhaps the hottest offensive team in the country. The numbers are mind-boggling on the year, with OU ranking 19th nationally in rushing (205.5 ypg) and third nationally in passing (356.5 ypg), resulting in a national-best 54.0 ppg. Oklahoma also has a Heisman winner running the show, as sophomore Sam Bradford beat out Tebow for the coveted award this season, the fifth Sooner to earn the Heisman. Bradford was simply remarkable this year, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes (.683), for a whopping 4,464 yards, with 48 TDs and just six interceptions. A real gunslinger, Bradford spread the wealth among his talented receiving corps, with six players hauling in 27 balls or more. The top two targets were WR Juaquin Iglesias (69 receptions, for 1,092 yards, 10 TDs) and tight end Jermaine Gresham (58 receptions, for 888 yards, 12 TDs), but opponents cannot only concentrate on those two, or WRs Ryan Broyles (42 receptions, for 661 yards, six TDs) and Manuel Johnson (38 receptions, for 685 yards, nine TDs) will make them pay the price.
The ground game definitely benefits from the prolific passing attack and although the team will be without 1,000-yard rusher DeMarco Murray (1,002 yards, 14 TDs) in this game due to injury, the team has another workhorse in Chris Brown, who paced the Sooners with 1,110 yards and an eye-popping 20 rushing TDs.
The Sooners are not a one-trick pony by any stretch of the imagination, as the OU defense deserves some credit for the team's success this year as well. Oklahoma has been especially stout against the run, limiting foes to just 106.0 yards per game. The pass defense has been more generous (253.1 ypg), but that is more a product of Oklahoma having huge leads and opponents trying to play catch up. This is another "big play" defense, with Oklahoma amassing 32 takeaways and 42 sacks in 13 games.
Redshirt freshman LB Travis Lewis was a real force in the middle of the field for Oklahoma this season, ranking among the elite tacklers in the Big 12 with 135 total stops. Among those tackles, were 12.0 TFLs and 3.5 sacks, while Lewis also picked off four passes and forced one fumble. Keenan Clayton was also a monster in the linebacking corps, finishing with 76 tackles, 10.0 TFLs, 4.5 sacks and one INT. Lendy Holmes (79 tackles, five INTs) and Dominique Franks (39 tackles, four INTs) represent the top playmakers in the secondary. One of the top defensive lines in the country, Oklahoma was able to assuage the loss of All-American end Auston English (30 tackles, 9.0 TFLs, 4.5 sacks) to injury, as players like sophomores Jeremy Beal (54 tackles, 14.0 TFLs, 8.5 sacks) and Gerald McCoy (26 tackles, 10.0 TFLs, 6.5 sacks) elevated their games up front.
The real key for Oklahoma's defense is whether or not the Sooners can handle Florida's offensive speed. That is something Stoops is aware of but not overly concerned with.
"We have been called a lot of things but slow is not one of them. We have matched well with people with speed and hopefully we will be able to do it this game."
This Florida team has enough veterans on the squad that know what it is like to play in this type of atmosphere with everything on the line. Expect both teams to come out fired up, with several momentum swings early on. However, when things settle down. the old saying that "speed kills" will ring true, and overall team speed, including the all-important special teams, resides with the Gators.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Florida 36, Oklahoma 31
posted by takis28
Jan. 8 2009 12:35pm -
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41-29 Gators GL fellas, Meyer will put the foot on the gas if given the chance and try to erase all the Utah talk.
posted by hilly
Jan. 8 2009 4:18pm -
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GATORS-6...GOOD LUCK!!!!!
-------42-27---------------------
posted by jkl711
Jan. 8 2009 5:10pm -
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GATORS-6...GOOD LUCK!!!!!
-------42-27---------------------
posted by jkl711
Jan. 8 2009 5:11pm -
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Can't post on here and not post TONIGHT !!!!!!!!!!
Another SEC Championship Game! (oh, sorry I meant BCS Championship Game ) NO I didn't ! FLORIDA Rolls the hapless Little Defensive 12 !
* * * FLORIDA - 5- * * * BIG
GLTA !
BeeSmart
posted by beesmart
Jan. 8 2009 6:39pm -
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Tonight's BCS play is Over 69.5 for me.
NBA:
Dallas/NY over 212
Clippers +13.5
nba is 54-50 YTD
posted by titoleibowitz
Jan. 8 2009 7:39pm -
0 likes
"Takis28":3b7edj46
BCS Championship Game
Florida Gators -4 (GOY)
My Record as of Jan/1/09 8-0-1 posted plays fade me bitches go ahead
GL
NICE WIN FOR GATORS CONGRATS EVERYONE AND GL REST OF THE WAY IN 2009
posted by takis28
Jan. 9 2009 12:04am