The Mourning After: Final Weekend of College Football

Barring any sort of computer breakdown, Oklahoma and Florida will meet in the national championship game.

Everyone and their mother will pick Florida over Oklahoma and with good reason. Their win was more impressive.

The Legend Grows: With Alabama taking a four point lead over Florida and controlling most of the clock in the 3Rd quarter. You would think Florida would counter that with quick touchdowns wouldn't you. Wrong. Florida controlled the clock and ate up 5 minutes and scored the game winning touchdown. They added another score to put the game out of Alabama's reach. The Crimson Tide have nothing to hang their heads on. They improved vastly this year and only have room to improve. And with Nick Saban as their coach and lead recruiter, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the SEC championship game next year.

Will They Get Exposed: Whitlock had a great column today talking about how Missouri's spread offense got exposed by defenses that can get pressure and make open field tackles. He also talked about how Oklahoma could get exposed by Florida. Sam Bradford and the rest of the Big 12 quarterbacks have had great years because of the week defenses in the conference. But if they face a tough defense that can get pressure Bradford might get exposed. He doesn't have the arm strength or accuracy to deal with the pressure. This should be an intriguing matchup.

Their Is Only Room For Improvement: While UCLA lost again to USC, their is only room to improve for this team. A young offensive line and injuries hurt this team this season. If Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow can find a great quarterback look out, the monopoly in LA could end. While the Rose Bowl will get a great matchup between USC and Penn St.

If They Provide It, Then Don't Come: Virginia Tech and Boston College played in the ACC championship yesterday in an half-full Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The ACC championship has been an utter disappointment since its foundation. It doesn't help though that neither Florida St. or Miami haven't played in it. But Florida is just not ACC territory. North Carolina is ACC territory, and hopefully for the ACC when their championship moves to Charlotte in 2010, the stadium will be full.

East Carolina Is Still Relevant: After beating West Virginia and Viriginia Tech in the opening weeks, East Carolina looked like a team heading for a BCS berth. But after a loss to N.C. State the bottom fell out. They eventually recovered and won the Conference USA east division tittle. Yesterday they forced Tulsa into seven turnovers and won the Conference outright.

Player of the Week: While Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford both had great games, Cal running back Jahvid Best had the best day. He ran for 317 yards on 17 caries and four touchdowns, beating a horrible Washington team. While I know the SEC likes to proclaim that they have the fastest players in college, Jahvid Best might be the fastest player in college football.

Going Out In Style: Last week Phil Fulmer lead Tennessee to a win in his last game. So this week it was up to Tyrone Willingham. And good ole Ty definitely went out in style. He watched his team lose 48-7 and give up 300 yards to Best. He won't be missed in Washington.

Heisman Watch:

1. Tim Tebow, Florida

2. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma

3. Colt McCoy, Texas

4. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech

5. Javon Ringer, Michigan St.

Bow Projections:

National Championship Game: Florida vs. Oklahoma

Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn St.

Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech

Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Texas

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio St. vs. Utah

The bowl picks come out today and we will report on it then.

Night Games: Spark Notes

With Florida winning the SEC championship game, they are likely headed to the national championship game. Oklahoma needs to forget about their past and the past of favorites heading into the Big 12 championship game. I think Oklahoma wins this game but with my past history of picking games, this is not a guarantee. There will be other games during the night that we will check on.

All Right we get Herbstreet and Musberger for the call. The game starts at 5Pm. Oh, USC beat UCLA and will play in the Rose Bowl.

Chase Daniel and Missouri have had a disappointing year, but will the cold slow down the fast pace Oklahoma offense? Also will Sam Bradford's injured hand effect the game? These are all questions about to be answered.

They are going over the disappointments for the favorite teams in the Big 12 Championship game. It is suppose to get down into the 20's tonight, but no rain or snow in the forecast. Oklahoma gets the ball first. The Missouri defense has not played well all year long. This could be a boat race.

> Oklahoma is making this look to easy so far.

3-0 Oklahoma, the Sooners drove right down the field but were stopped in the red zone. Also did you know that former Washington coach Don James coached Nick Saban? Neither did I.

> The Oklahoma offense is up-tempo, while the Missouri offense is more methodical. Anyway the Tigers are now driving on the Sooners.

The Field Goal is No Good for Missouri, they also drove down the field. But how long does that last and can they stop the Sooner offense?

> The Missouri defense actually held Oklahoma. That could be a win in it self.

There is literally a "white out" at West Virginia. It is Pat White's last game for West Virginia so they are wearing all white and it is also snowing. It's kind of crazy to look at.

> Oklahoma gets the ball back, deep in their zone. We will see if they can have one of those quick long drives.

10-0 Oklahoma, yep Oklahoma went on one their patented long touchdowns drives. You knew that wasn't going to take long. The Sooner Schooner broke down after the extra point, it was funny. Missouri better score on this possession or this will turn into another Texas Tech type of game.

End of 1St quarter, 10-0 Oklahoma. Missouri is driving thanks to a bogus pass interference call on Oklahoma. Missouri still has to put points on the board while in the red zone, and they haven't done that yet.

Touchdown Missouri, Jeremy Maclin went into the end zone for the Tigers. Is there another long drive coming for Oklahoma.

17-7 Oklahoma, Bradford was given too much time to pass. Oklahoma was helped on that drive by a penalty that made Missouri kick from their own 15 yard line, then Oklahoma helped out Missouri by making the same penalty.

Fumble, Oklahoma gets the ball back with great field position.

24-7 Oklahoma, this game is over. Missouri can't possibly come back in this game.

College Football Links

- Army-Navy is more than the BCS (KC Star)

- Florida Vs. Alabama the DE facto semifinal (The Birmingham News)

- It's going to be cold for the Big 12 Championship (The Oklahoman)

- Will a lot of people show up for the Conference USA championship (Tulsa World)

- Today's games broken down for you (CBSsports.com)

College Football Must List

Well it is always a sprint to the end of a season in college football. And we are headed to the finish line. There will be championship games played and some hold over regular season games. But the SEC championship game and Big 12 Championship game will be the focal points of this weekend.

Who's wills will overcome the challenge: Florida's offense or the Alabama Defense: I said yesterday that I liked Alabama because of their defense. The Alabama is lead by their 3RD ranked defense that is averaging 11.5 points per game. The Florida offense is also 3RD ranked that is averaging 46.3 points per game. This will be a battle of wills and I think Nick Saban's will is stronger. His defense will pressure Tim Tebow and force him to make mistakes. When Tebow is pressured he does not make the best throws and the entire Florida offense literally runs through him. Alabama will win this game.

Will the Big 12 Championship pull another surprise: Just ask the 2003 undefeated Oklahoma team that was hammered by Kansas St. in the Big 12 Championship game. The 1996 Nebraska team also felt the wrath of the Big 12 Championship game. While Missouri has been disappointing and did loose to Kansas last week at Arrowhead Stadium, where the championship game will be played this year, they will have a home field advantage. The weather will be miserable and could slow down the up-tempo Oklahoma offense. This game will be the most interesting game of the weekend.

After the end of the weekend most of the questions will be answered. We will know who will be playing in the BCS games. So have a fun time watching the last weekend of college football.