As most of you know, I am as big of an OU fan as there is on FanIQ. I have been a fan since I was in 7th grade and am now getting ready to graduate in May from there so if there is anyone who can talk about OU, it's me. With all that said and having watched every OU game and most every Florida game, I can pretty confidently say that Oklahoma will prevail and hoist the Crystal Ball on late Thursday night.

All week you have heard all about the Florida defense and how it is the fastest defense ever and that there is no way that the Sooners will even get to 30 points on this great Florida defense. But Oklahoma has played against defenses that are just as good as the Gators in TCU and Texas and managed to score 35 points against both of them even though they couldn't run the football at all. Defense may win championships in the NFL but in college it's all about the offense.

Florida has jumped out big time on their opponents, outscoring them by a score of 167-20 in the first quarter. That might be leading one to believe that the Sooners better get ready from the get go because Florida scores so fast. Oklahoma scores in the first quarter, faster and bigger. The Sooners have outscored their opponents 225-30 in the first quarter, and that is against offenses such as Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri, TCU, Oklahoma St., Nebraska, Kansas St. and Kansas. All of those teams are in the top 22 in scoring offense in all of college football. So for all the flak the OU defense has gotten since the Big 12 title game, those numbers sure tell a different story.

Oklahoma, in addition to striking early, they strike often. We all know about the 5 straight 60+ point games in a row, with a 58 point game to kick that run off. The Sooners are one of the few teams that have seen an increase in plays per game since the rules change from last year. Oklahoma runs on average 81 plays per game to Florida's 69. Sure that is only 11 plays more but Oklahoma has more 5 play or 2 minute and less drives than any team in all of college football this season, so those 11 plays could be all the difference. Florida also has struggled with big time receivers this season, such as Julio Jones of Alabama and Shay Hodge of Ole Miss. Oklahoma has 4 to 5 players that will test the Gators secondary like they haven't been tested all season.

I am also sure that you have seen that Oklahoma gives up 24.5 points per game compared to Florida only allowing 12.8. That 24.5 points per game would be the highest ever for a BCS champion, but in that number is included 28 points on kickoff returns, plus a safety from a bad snap on a punt, a field goal that TCU got after returning the kickoff to the 10 and the OU defense held them to that, and at the very least 3 to 4 touchdowns given up in the last minutes of a game when the second and third stringers were in there in garbage time. So adjusting OU points per game allowed for those scores, that drops their average to 20.3 which would put them in the top 30 in points allowed per game.

The Oklahoma defense is what I like to call a big play defense. While they may give up their fair share of yards, 359 per game, the Sooners defense has 32 takeaways, are third in the NCAA in sacks with 4 per game, and they are 8th in the NCAA with 8 tackles for loss per game. With Florida being a more run first offense, and the Sooners defense being pretty solid against the run (106 yards per game allowed), Tebow should be forced into more 2nd and 3rd and long situations, which will allow this very opportunistic defense to pin their ears back and get to Tebow and to force some turnovers.

Oklahoma's kickoff coverage has been pretty bad this season, I can't defend that, and hopefully it won't cost them in this game. The coaching staff has made some changes since the Texas game by playing defensive starters on kickoff team and now even kicking it to one corner and keeping the opponents on that side of the field and that has drastically reduced the big plays they have allowed on kick coverage. As long as the Sooners are able to keep explosive kick returner Brandon James in check, this becomes a moot point.

There are a couple other factors that I think a lot of the national media is overlooking. The biggest is the chip on the shoulder card. Oklahoma feeds off of any bit of slight or disrespect and Bob Stoops is the best at channeling that onto the field. OU's defense has been questioned and called out for the better part of the last two weeks and you better believe that the Sooners D will come out with their hair on fire and ready to show Tebow that he shouldn't have said that he wanted to face a Big 12 defense. Percy Harvin not being at 100% and therefore maybe not being as effective or even being able to be on the field as much as Florida will need is another big factor. Also the last time Oklahoma played against a team with an outgoing offensive coordinator on the opposite sideline was the 2001 Championship game when Florida St. was held to 2 points only because OU gave them a safety instead of punting out their own endzone. Dan Mullen will be there but he will be advising incoming offensive coordinator Steve Addazio who will do the actual play calling. Tebow has only had Mullen as the voice in his ear, so this may be just enough to throw him off his game enough. Plus....OU is due a BCS Bowl win.

So there are just some of the big reasons I think Oklahoma will beat Florida and will win their 8th National Championship, tying them with Notre Dame with the most in the modern era.

Boomer! Sooner!