Oklahoma football: Remembering the last time OU and Florida played

Oklahoma football history spans 126 years. Florida has been playing varsity football for 115 years. Yet these two elite college programs have played each other just once over that time span.

That one time occurred 12 years ago this time of year when Oklahoma and Florida met in the 2009 BCS National Championship game held at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Coming into the game, the Sooners were ranked No. 1 in the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) rankings and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. In Florida’s case, it was just the opposite. The Gators were ranked No. 2 in the BCS rankings and No. 1 in the AP poll. Both teams entered the game with identical 12-1 records and conference championships in the SEC and Big 12, respectively.

Another big feature in this game, aside from a battle between the country’s top two teams, was the individual battle between the two quarterbacks, both Heisman Trophy winners. OU’s Sam Bradford was the reigning Heisman winner, and Tim Tebow won the prestigious award the previous season (2007).

Oklahoma Sooners Football

Neither team scored in the opening quarter.

Florida scored first, early in the second quarter, on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Tebow to Louis Murphy to take a 7-0 lead. On its ensuing possession, Oklahoma marched 65 yards in six plays, with Bradford finding Jermaine Gresham in the end zone on a six-yard pass.

That was the way things stood at halftime, although Oklahoma had two other chances to score in the second quarter with the ball inside the Florida 10-yard line.

The Sooners couldn’t push it across the goal line on third- and fourth-and-goal tries midway through the second quarter, and a Bradford pass from the Gator six-yard line in the final minute of the first half was deflected off the hands of Sooner receiver Manuel Johnson and was intercepted in the end zone by Florida.

Florida broke the 7-7 deadlock on a two-yard touchdown run by Percy Harvin with 4:21 remaining in the third quarter.

The Sooners drew even again, at 14-14, three minutes into the final quarter on an 11-yard pass from Bradford to Gresham, the second time in the game those two had paired up for a touchdown.

Ninety seconds later, a 27-yard field goal by Jonathan Phillips put the Gators back in front, 17-14.

The clincher came when Tebow capped off a 75-yard drive with a four-yard pass to David Nelson with just over three minutes to go in the game, increasing the Florida lead to 24-14. And that’s the way things ended.

The win was Florida’s second BCS National Championship win in three seasons, and for the Sooners, it was their third BCS championship game loss since winning the national championship in the 2000 season.

The leaders in the game for Oklahoma were Bradford with 26 of 41 passing for 256 yards two touchdowns and two interceptions; Gresham caught eight passes for 62 yards and a couple of touchdowns; and Chris Brown had 110 yards rushing.

Tebow completed 18 of 30 passes for 231 yards and two scores, and Harvin gained 121 yards on the ground and averaged 13.4 yards per carry.

Oklahoma set a modern-era scoring record in the 2008 season with 716 points, and came into its game with Florida having scored 60 or more points in each of the five previous games that season.

DeMarco Murray, who is the current assistant coach at OU working with the running backs, was on the Oklahoma team for the 2008 national championship game but did not play because of an injury he sustained in the Big 12 championship game.

Also, current Florida head coach Dan Mullen was the Florida offensive coordinator for the BCS championship game with the Sooners.