Florida vs. Oklahoma – Football. This country loves itself some football. So do I. We also love ourselves a folk hero, one we can paint any old way we like. That figure is quarterback Tim Tebow. He showed us so last night on national television, proving once and for all how God, if one does exist, prefers him over the rest of us oxygen-sucking leaches. Unlike the Super Bowl of our beloved NFL, the BCS National Championship Game doesn’t seem to resonate much in the same way as its professional counterpart. If your favorite team wasn’t able to earn enough electoral votes to play in the finale then chances are you’re minimized to a casual fan of the game. Maybe checking in on it whenever the wife has a commercial break in her late night program. Which is pathetic. But just like the Super Bowl, we tune in no matter who is playing if for only the brutal human drama that unfolds before us. If the Super Bowl has morphed into an unofficial national holiday, than the BCS title game has done nothing more then bloat into an overhyped payday in my eyes.

But last night in Miami the storylines were too good to pass up. In each corner were two storied universities with nine titles among them who were meeting on the football field for the first time ever. Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks led each team. Two head coaches flaunted proud roots to northeast Ohio. And as an aside, our 14-person panel at Joint Contrast went with Florida by a 9-5 margin. The overall winner was among the nine that selected the Gators and in fact picked 22 of the bowl games correctly. But screw that guy. I think I finished in a tie for last place, or somewhere close to that. That’s what I get for sticking to my roots and leaning towards the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference. Bums. I’ll get ‘em next year though.

So yeah, I picked Florida to win, even though I’ve grown to loathe all things Florida Gators after wading through 10 years in this great state. I hardly feel the hatred, of say, my Ohio State-supporting brethren. But I guess it’s true what they say about how misery loves company. The college team I root for is not worth the mention at this point. Though they did win the Hawaii Bowl this year! But about those Gators, you see, I’ve seen this all before. I’ve been to Gainesville on game days. Been a part of the excessive consumption that takes place. Met the promiscuous girls that study there. And experienced the general running amuck throughout a small-town, which happens to be inhabited by tens of thousands of reckless Gator-chomping fans. I can only imagine, and marvel at, the deliberate inebriation that took place last night.

The Game – If you were one of the spectators that hardly cared about the outcome of this game then you likely remember it as a pretty good one. If you’re a Florida fan you were probably too hammered by the time it ended to remember much. And if you’re an Oklahoma fan, then drinking too much hardly helped you forget the whole ordeal in the first place. Had to be tough trying to stomach the sight of your team methodically march the field, armed with swift passes and long runs one moment while darting through the Gator defense, then failing to finish those drives the very next time you reach for your brew.

I couldn’t understand it myself. I would bounce between admiring the Sooners for their aggressiveness, then feel the same about the Gators after a monster hit got delivered by the likes of Major Wright in the Florida defense. What should have been a game that mirrored the glitz and glamorous image of Miami instead turned into a Big Ten-style of smash mouth football, where defenses knocked opposing players around until the offenses decided to get defensive as well. All that was missing amid the 66-degree weather was a snowstorm to come blowing through. But then you knew it was only a matter of time before God intervened anyway, right?

God’s Son – I will tell you now that I knew it was Florida’s game to lose when late in the first quarter, on 2nd-and-10 with 1:58 to go, Tebow picked up a first down on a run by putting his shoulder through the backside of a diving defender. The sheer brut strength he showed was something to behold, which eventually inspired one of the talking heads of the telecast to utter “if you’re fortunate enough to spend five minutes, or 20 minutes, around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it” as he attempted to add some color.

That’s because God loves him some Tebow, and in turn loves the people that are teamed up with him. God loves Tebow so much that The Almighty orchestrated a plan to have Oklahoma intercept two of his passes, just to allow the young disciple to appreciate the sweet taste of victory that much more upon delivering the final dagger, known to us as a touchdown with 3:07 remaining that put Florida up by 10, in effect putting the game on ice for good in the Orange Bowl. But if the claims of “Superman” by the Fox announcers were intended to describe his supernatural abilities while playing in such a game, or over his career, then the more human-like moments would soon unfold before us as the game neared its conclusion.

It seems even someone who comes from such a stable family as his, that does mission work to help better the lives of families in need in places such as Croatia, Thailand, and the Philippians, can act up in the uholiest of ways sometimes. With that late lead, Tebow drew an unsportsmanlike like penalty with 2:09 to go when he gave Oklahoma’s Nick Harris an up close tutorial on how to do the “Gator chomp” following a first down run. An announcer quipped “that might be the first thing he’s ever done wrong in his life.” The humor of some of those guys.

Things seemed to wrap up rather quickly after that, as images on the television morphed into a Hollywood-like montage over the final 49 seconds. On another run up the middle, geared to kill the clock, Tebow lowered his shoulder into the umpire in what looked like a violent collision in the middle of the field as he was being tackled. Cameras were then cued to the Gatorade dumping of coach Urban Meyer, then to Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops who gazed across the field in dismay. All this happening in split seconds of each other. Then it was over, 24-10. Just like that.

Tebow is now a legendary name placed among a list of the best of the best in regards to the greatest college football players to have ever played the game. Afterwards, the lingering question from sports writers who huddled around him in search of a memorable quote was whether he’d decide to return for a senior season at UF or ride his charm and God-given talents into the National Football League, where a sizable contract is sure to be awaiting his signature.

Meanwhile, as he contemplates such a cushy existence, God returns to his day job, where finding ways to put food in the mouths of the less fortunate is just the tip of so many larger issues, which sporting events help us forget if only for a few hours at a time.

Saturday began the fest of college football bowl games to be played over the next three weeks, leading up to the National Championship showdown between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida.

Included is a breakdown of how 14 unofficial Joint Contrast contributors view the outcome of all 34 bowl games for the 2008-09 season. We’ll return after it’s all said and done to review the outcome of our panel.

-- Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow of Florida gets twisted by two Michigan defenders in last year's Capital One Bowl in Orlando. This year the Wolverines are stuck watching the College Football Bowl season from their dorm rooms while the Gators play for their second title in three years. (Photo by Scott McCall) --

The Details: Though the committee is deadlooked on matchups involving Boise State/TCU, Hawaii/Notre Dame and Kentucky/East Carolina, they are in total aggreance that Texas Tech will defeat Ole Miss and Missouri will handle Northwestern.

Just as lopsided are predictions of South Florida over Memphis (13-1), Georgia over Michigan State (13-1), USC over Penn State (13-1), Maryland over Nevada (12-2), Kansas over Minnesota (12-2), Texas over Ohio State (12-2), BYU over Arizona (11-3) and Alabama over Utah (11-3). By a 10-4 margin Wake Forest was selected to get the win over Navy, Fresno State over Colorado State, Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic, Florida State over Wisconsin, Oklahoma State over Oregon, Houston over Air Force, Boston College over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech over LSU.

Closer though are 13 games that may help decide bragging rights, at least until the March Madness Tournament gets underway in a few months. Among those predictions are Southern Miss over Troy (8-6), California over Miami (8-6), NC State over Rutgers (8-6), Rice over Western Michigan (8-6), Oregon State over Pittsburgh (8-6), South Carolina over Iowa (8-6), Clemson over Nebraska (8-6), Buffalo over Connecticut (8-6) and Ball State over Tulsa (8-6).

North Carolina is favored over West Virginia (9-5), Louisiana Tech over Northern Illinois (9-5), Virginia Tech over Cincinnati (9-5) and Florida over Oklahoma in the title game with an average overall combined score of 60 points.

What This All Means: Actually, nothing really. Especially when you consider the rooting interest that each of the 14 panelists have in such a contest. There are fans of the Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Buckeyes, and of course Gators, that made these picks. And you best believe that of this collective are selectees who have quite the dislike for many of the qualifying teams. So if your stuck on who you might pick in some of these matchups I encourage you to proceed with caution. Or just pick the team that suites up in your favorite colors if you can’t decide.