FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — One day after this season's Heisman Trophy winner quietly slipped into an interview room, looking like an Oklahoma fan dressed in a Sam Bradford jersey, the previous season's Heisman winner made a star-studded, security-escorted entrance onto a Sunday center stage.
"Get off the podium!" a man with a dark suit, wearing an earpiece, bellowed at reporters who were angling for position to hear Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
What, no bomb-sniffing dogs?
No one said whether this man was from U.N.C.L.E. or the Secret Service or Rent-A-Badge, but he sure looked important as he cleared spa and resort hotel space for one of Florida's most famous.
"It's kind of cool being with a rock star," teammate Louis Murphy jokingly said of Tebow.
What is it about South Florida, Oklahoma quarterbacks, rock stars, the Heisman and the Bowl Championship Series national title game?
The only other time two Heisman winners have faced each other for the national title was four years ago, when quarterback Jason White of Oklahoma and Matt Leinart of USC met under similar BCS circumstances.
Bradford can only hope the score is not 55-19 again.
White, the 2003 Heisman winner, was a soft-spoken kid from a town in "the OK," while limelight Leinart hailed from "the OC."
Here we go again.
Oklahoma and Florida are playing for the BCS national title Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium and all the talk again is about quarterbacks and offense.
If handling the spotlight and the camera flashes and the interviews correlates at all to game performance, Bradford doesn't stand a chance against Tim Terrific.
There's no quibbling with the numbers -- both quarterbacks have led two of the most prolific statistical teams in NCAA history.
Bradford won the Heisman Trophy this season as a sophomore because he deserved it, throwing for 48 touchdowns against only six interceptions in leading Oklahoma to the Big 12 Conference championship. Oklahoma's hurry-up attack set school records with 97 touchdowns and 702 points.
Oklahoma had 18 scoring drives of less than a minute and scored 55 points against Kansas State -- in the first half.
Bradford was the trigger-happy shooter for all of it, dissecting Big 12 defenses with almost ridiculous ease.
In two seasons as Oklahoma's starter, Bradford has thrown for 84 touchdown passes. With time and practice, coaches think he'll one day be able to shake this slump.
