BCS Championship
Final Score: Florida 41 - Ohio State 14
Monday, January 8th - 8:00 PM Eastern - FOX
OUR PICKS
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Ohio State
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TOM |
Ohio State
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Florida |
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TRAVIS |
Florida |
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| JOE |
Florida |
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Recap by Don Prather
Ohio State rolled in heavily favored for this championship matchup against Florida. Two weeks earlier there had been much hullabuloo that perhaps the Michigan Woverines deserved another shot at the top ranked Buckeyes in this game since they played them so well in the Shoe. But then USC outplayed the boys from Ann Arbor in every aspect of the game in the Rose Bowl quieting many BCS critics. Of course, the Bucks were still favored because while the defense was young for Ohio State, Chris Leak wasn't near the leader that Troy Smith was and the Florida Gators would never be able to keep up with the speed of Ted Ginn. They simply had Florida outmanned so this game was all but decided before the coin toss. And immediately following the coin toss, Ted Ginn took the opening kickoff back 93 yards for a touchdown and it seemed Florida's fate was sealed.
The only problem was, someone forgot to tell the Gators they were supposed to just roll over and lose this one. On the ensuring drive following the opening TD, Florida marched straight down the field in 7 plays and answered with a 14 yard TD pass from Leak to Dallas Baker. They then held Ohio State on two possessions and got two more scores to make it 21-7. Ohio State wasn't quite through and put together their only sustained drive of the evening and scored their only touchdown on offense making the score 21-14 and the game looked to become a shootout. Then Florida demonstrated to the country what defense was as they completely shut down the Buckeye offense only giving up 82 yards for the game. Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith was 4/14 passing for just 25 yards. Antonio Pittman was held to just 62 yards rushing. Smith looked slower and more indecisive than he's looked all season. Chris Leak was the leader to be reckoned with on this warm January night in Arizona. Urban Meyer is now 2-0 in BCS games - his first win coming in 2004 with the undefeated and under-rated Utah Utes and now with the National Champion Florida Gators.
Now if only we could find a way for undefeated Boise State to play Florida. . .
Box Score
| Team Stat Comparison |
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Scoring Summary |
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Florida |
Ohio State |
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1st Quarter |
FLA |
tOSU |
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1st Downs |
21 |
8 |
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tOSU |
14:44 |
TD |
T. Ginn Jr. 93 yd kick return |
0 |
7 |
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| 3rd down efficiency |
10-19 |
1-9 |
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(PAT - A. Pettrey) |
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| 4th down efficiency |
2-3 |
0-1 |
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FLA |
10:31 |
TD |
B. Baker 14 yd pass from |
7 |
7 |
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| Total Yards |
370 |
82 |
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C. Leak (PAT - C. Hetland) |
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| Passing |
214 |
35 |
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FLA |
5:51 |
TD |
P. Harvin 4 yd run |
14 |
7 |
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| Comp-Att |
26-37 |
4-14 |
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(PAT - C. Hetland) |
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| Yards per pass |
5.8 |
2.5 |
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2nd Quarter |
FLA |
tOSU |
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| Rushing |
156 |
47 |
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FLA |
14:56 |
TD |
D. Wynn 2 yd run |
21 |
7 |
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| Rushing Attempts |
43 |
23 |
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(PAT - C. Hetland) |
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| Yards per rush |
3.6 |
2.0 |
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tOSU |
13:32 |
TD |
A. Pittman 18 yd run |
21 |
14 |
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| Penalties |
6-50 |
5-50 |
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(PAT - A. Pettrey) |
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| Turnovers |
0 |
2 |
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FLA |
6:00 |
FG |
C. Hetlund 42 yd FG |
24 |
14 |
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| Fumbles lost |
0 |
1 |
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| Ints thrown |
0 |
1 |
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FLA |
1:53 |
FG |
C. Hetlund 40 yd FG |
27 |
14 |
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| Possession |
40:48 |
19:12 |
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FLA |
0:23 |
TD |
A. Caldwell 1 yd pass from |
34 |
14 |
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T. Tebow (PAT - C. Hetlund) |
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4th Quarter |
FLA |
tOSU |
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FLA |
10:20 |
TD |
T. Tebow 1 yd run |
41 |
14 |
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(PAT - C. Hetland) |
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Florida Passing |
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Ohio State Passing |
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C/ATT |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
INT |
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C/ATT |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
INT |
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Chris Leak |
25/36 |
213 |
5.9 |
1 |
0 |
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Troy Smith |
4/14 |
35 |
2.5 |
0 |
1 |
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Tim Tebow |
1/1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
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Team |
4/14 |
35 |
2.5 |
-- |
-- |
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Team |
26/37 |
214 |
5.8 |
-- |
-- |
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Florida Rushing |
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Ohio State Rushing |
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CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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DeShawn Wynn |
19 |
69 |
3.6 |
1 |
17 |
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Antonio Pittman |
10 |
62 |
6.2 |
1 |
18 |
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Tim Tebow |
10 |
39 |
3.9 |
1 |
10 |
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Chris Wells |
2 |
9 |
4.5 |
0 |
7 |
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Percy Harvin |
5 |
22 |
4.4 |
1 |
6 |
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Brian Hartline |
1 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
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Andre Caldwell |
3 |
13 |
4.3 |
0 |
11 |
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Troy Smith |
10 |
-29 |
-2.9 |
0 |
13 |
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Chris Leak |
3 |
7 |
2.3 |
0 |
14 |
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Team |
23 |
47 |
2 |
-- |
-- |
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Kestahn Moore |
2 |
7 |
3.5 |
0 |
6 |
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Team |
43 |
156 |
3.6 |
-- |
-- |
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Florida Receiving |
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Ohio State Receiving |
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REC |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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REC |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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Percy Harvin |
9 |
60 |
6.7 |
0 |
17 |
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Anthony Gonzalez |
2 |
11 |
5.5 |
0 |
8 |
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Jemalle Cornelius |
5 |
50 |
10 |
0 |
19 |
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Brian Hartline |
1 |
13 |
13 |
0 |
13 |
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Cornelius Ingram |
4 |
58 |
14.5 |
0 |
20 |
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Antonio Pittman |
1 |
11 |
11 |
0 |
11 |
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Dallas Baker |
4 |
23 |
5.8 |
1 |
14 |
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Team |
4 |
35 |
2.5 |
-- |
-- |
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Billy Latsko |
2 |
17 |
