Year-by-Year: 2009 FedEx BCS National Championship
July 8, 2009 06:30 PM
Florida 24
Oklahoma 14
January 8, 2009
Dolphin Stadium
National Championship
Gators Ride Tebow, Defense to Title
In a game that featured two of the country’s most dynamic offenses and two Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks, it was the defensive grudge match between the second ranked Florida Gators and top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners that dominated the 2009 BCS National Championship.
The high-scoring shootout between Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford never materialized.
Tebow, however, shook off a career-high two interceptions to rescue the Gators. He drove them to the clinching score—he took two hard steps toward the line, jumped and zipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to David Nelson with 3:07 left to make it 24-14.
Percy Harvin returned from an ankle injury and dashed for 122 yards on only nine carries for the Gators. His 52-yard gallop set up Jonathan Phillips' 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 17-14 lead.
It was Florida's third national title overall, the third straight for a team from the Southeastern Conference, and it was the Sooners' fifth straight loss in a BCS game. Oklahoma set a modern record for scoring with 702 points this season and put up at least 60 points in each of its last five games, yet never found its rhythm.
FLA OKLA
First Downs 24 25
Rushing Attempts 44 29
Rushing Yards 249 107
Passes Attempted 30 47
Passes Completed 18 26
Had Intercepted 2 2
Passing Yards 231 256
Total Offense 480 363
Punting/Avg. 3/51.7 3/38.7
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0
Penalties/Yards 8/81 4/31
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Florida 0 7 7 10 - 24
Oklahoma 0 7 0 7 - 14
SCORING SUMMARY
FLA: Murphy 20-yard pass from Tebow (Phillips kick); OKLA: Gresham 6-yard pass from Bradford (Stevens kick); FLA: Harvin 2-yard run (Phillips kick); OKLA: Gresham 11-yard pass from Bradford (Stevens kick); FLA: Phillips 27-yard kick; FLA: Nelson 4-yard pass from Tebow (Phillips kick)
MOP: Tim Tebow (Florida) and Carlos Dunlap (Florida)
Florida Head Coach: Urban Meyer
Oklahoma Head Coach: Bob Stoops