Boise State Mustangs (12-0) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (11-2)
This match-up between the Big 12 champions and the undefeated victors of the Western Athletic Conference features two teams who’ve overcome the losses of key personnel to exceed expectations. Only weeks before the 2006 season began, the Sooners kicked their starting quarterback, Rhett Bomar, as well as their starting guard, J.D. Quinn, off of the team for accepting money from boosters. A former top prospect out of Texas, Bomar was expected to take this team to the national championship this year. Head coach of the Sooners, Bob Stoops, was forced to convert wide receiver, Paul Thompson back to quarterback, which he had not played in years. But this season Thompson has performed more than adequately, completing over 60% of his passes, for 2434 yards, 20 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions. The Sooners started off a little slow, with a 3-2 record, but the team’s one point loss to Oregon was highly disputed after an Oregon onside kick was incorrectly ruled in favor of the Ducks, from which they scored the game winning touchdown. A week later, Oklahoma also lost their running back, Heisman Trophy frontrunner, Adrian Peterson – who had amassed nearly 1,000 yards after just 6 games – after he broke his collarbone diving into the end zone. Since the Peterson injury, Oklahoma has gone undefeated with the help of Thompson and newcomer running back, Allen Patrick, running off wins against Missouri, Texas A&M, and Nebraska, all top-25 ranked teams.
On the Boise State side, this team had to deal with losing the head coach, Dan Hawkins, who helped develop the program and decided to leave for Colorado University. New coach, Chris Peterson has stepped in only to lead the team to an undefeated season for the second time in three years. Boise State received only the second BCS bowl bid by a non-BCS conference team (Utah) and the team is ready to prove itself against perennial power, Oklahoma. Led by senior quarterback, Jared Zabransky (66.4 completion pct., 2325 yards, 20 TD, 7 INT) and sophomore running back, Ian Johnson (1613 yards, 24 TD), the Broncos have gone through their season with relative ease, with their only close victories over Wyoming, Hawaii, and San Jose State. Boise is also relatively unproven, having defeated 5 winning teams, but only one from one of the six major conferences (Oregon State).
In this match-up, both teams feature prolific offenses, the question will be whether either defense will be able to stop the opposing offense. While Boise State is undefeated, they have simply not played the caliber of opponents that the Sooners have, and have come close to losing against inferior opponents. The Mustang defense will have trouble containing the combination of Peterson, who returns from injury, and Patrick. The running by this tandem will set up the play action with Thompson having the option of getting the ball to his #1 receiving target, Malcolm Kelly (993 yards, 10 TD), or using his legs to run. Boise will keep this game close with their speed on offense, and hard-nosed defense, but in the end Oklahoma will just have too much talent and Peterson will use this game as a platform to elevate his NFL Draft status for this upcoming year. Oklahoma wins, 31-21.
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