Gators, Sooners win conference titles, should play for national championship
Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators (Associated Press photo)
Throughout the college football season, I’ve been periodically posting game-day updates on three teams: Oklahoma State University, my alma mater; University of Oklahoma, the other in-state school located 45 miles from where I grew up; and University of Florida, the traditional favorite team of the McDonnell clan.
Two of those teams, OSU and OU, faced off last weekend in the annual Bedlam contest. The Sooners emerged victorious, beating the Cowboys 61-41 to seal a spot in tonight’s Big XII Championship Game.
From the looks of it, there will be another matchup among these three teams. Barring any Bowl Championship Series snafus – no guarantees there, unfortunately – OU and Florida will play for the national championship Jan. 8 in Orlando, Fla.
The Florida Gators beat Alabama, the No. 1 team in the country, 31-20 today in the SEC Championship Game. A few hours later, OU beat Missouri 62-21 in the Big XII Championship game.
Both are one-loss teams with powerhouse offenses. The Gators have Tim Tebow, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner who this year beat legendary running back Emmitt Smith’s record for rushing touchdowns at U of F. The Sooners are led by Sam Bradford, a forerunner in this year’s Heisman race who this year beat Jason White’s OU record for most passing touchdowns in a single season.
This ought to be a great game.
A few people have asked me who my family would root for in an OU-U of F shootout. The choice is easy, though it may not be popular here in my home state: My husband and I – along with mother-in-law, sister-in-law, our sons and nieces – will be doing the Gator chomp all the way.
My husband, Patrick, attended U of F for two years before moving to Oklahoma and finishing his degree at OSU. His sister also attended U of F, and several of his relatives are proud Gator grads. While his immediate family lives in Tulsa, most of his kin call Florida home.
Plus, I have a promise to keep. Before Patrick and I got married – we just celebrated our 10th anniversary Friday – his cousin Mikey Hulon, one of the biggest Florida fans around, made me promise to become a Gator fan. Mikey couldn’t bear the idea of one of his favorite cousins aligning himself with someone not loyal to the Gators. Honestly, Florida is a great school with great sports programs, so it wasn’t hard to agree. And it didn’t hurt that the Gators’ lovely orange and blue matched nicely with my OSU orange and black.
So, it looks like we McDonnells will be having our own National Championship watch party Jan. 8. We’ll be keeping in touch with the Florida relatives as we cheer on the Gators.
The BCS will officially announce the competitors for all the different bowl games on Sunday. So, we soon will know if U of F and OU indeed are Miami bound, and we’ll find out where OSU will play to cap on of the Cowboys’ best seasons ever.
-BAM
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