Gators, Sooners win to set up title tilt

One loss each. No questions asked.

Florida and Oklahoma each won their conference title games Saturday to virtually assure themselves a showdown for the national championship on Jan. 8 — a matchup hardly anyone outside of Texas can argue with.

"After what happened tonight, I would go so far as to say Texas doesn't have much of an argument, either," said Jerry Palm, the BCS analyst and blogger.

Led by Tim Tebow, No. 2 Florida defeated top-ranked Alabama 31-20 to win the Southeastern Conference.

Later, Sam Bradford — a top Heisman contender just like Tebow — led No. 4 Oklahoma to a 62-21 victory over Missouri to take the Big 12. The Sooners set an NCAA record by scoring 60-plus for five straight games.

"I don't see how we could not be No. 1 tomorrow," Bradford said.

Barring some kind of computer meltdown when the final BCS rankings come out today, the Gators (12-1) will be ranked second, paired against the top-ranked Sooners (12-1) for the championship game in Miami.

Call it the Unstoppable Force vs. the Unstoppable Force: Oklahoma's offense is ranked first in the nation in scoring and set the NCAA record for points in a season (702). Florida's offense averaged more than 49 points over the last nine games.

The point spread won't come out until the game is officially set. But chances are that over-under number will be a big 'un.

"Oklahoma puts up basketball scores with that offense. It's ridiculous how in sync that offense is," Palm said. "Florida is going to need to score a lot of points to beat them. But Florida can score a lot of points."

Had Florida not had a late extra point blocked in a 31-30 loss to Mississippi in September, Tebow and the Gators might be a win away from joining the debate as possibly one of the best teams ever. Their scoring defense is ranked fourth in the nation, one notch below their scoring offense.

Had the Sooners not had a bad day in a 45-35 loss to Texas in October, they might be part of the same argument.

Both teams got second chances, however, and both took advantage.

After losing 31-30 to Mississippi, Florida won its next eight games by an average score of 52-12 and moved to No. 4 in the BCS standings. After their convincing win over the top-ranked Crimson Tide, the Gators should jump at least two spots.