Settling the BCS

It's hard to believe Oklahoma and Florida will be meeting for the first time in football when they play in the 11th Bowl Championship Series title game. Both teams are happy, if not lucky, to be in South Florida after a season in which several one-loss schools and undefeated Utah could have made cases for earning the honor. Florida rebounded after a one-point loss to Mississippi in September, winning nine straight games; Oklahoma survived a 10-point loss to Texas at Dallas in early October. Here are some of the key issues and matchups in tonight's game:

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The P factor

Florida junior wide receiver Percy Harvin returns to action after missing the Southeastern Conference title game with a severe ankle sprain. His impact could be huge.

Harvin is perhaps college football's most exciting player, a hybrid tailback/receiver who has rushed for 1,730 yards in his career while totaling 1,880 yards in 128 catches.

Harvin said Florida trainers told him the ankle injury he suffered against Florida State was one of the worst they had ever seen.

It killed Harvin to miss the SEC title game against Alabama.

"It was almost like I was at a funeral," he said. However, had Harvin tried to play in that game he surely would have not been able to play in the BCS title game. "This happened for a reason," he said.

Harvin said his ankle is about 90% healed.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow offered this assessment of Harvin after seeing him practice: "Whether he's 100% or not, he looked faster than anybody else."

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State of the (BCS) union

Ohio State isn't in the title game, but the state of Ohio is.

Florida Coach Urban Meyer was raised in Ashtabula; Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops hails from Youngstown.

Miami of Ohio has been called the cradle of coaches, producing the likes of Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Sid Gillman and Bo Schembechler.

"There's an awful lot of coaches from that area," Stoops said this week. " . . . Football is important there, and it's developed, from the little leagues all the way up through high school."

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Claim of fame

Oklahoma's Dominique Franks, a sophomore defensive back, made his coaches cringe when he called out Florida's Tebow, saying the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner would rank only as the fourth best quarterback in the Big 12 behind Sam Bradford (Oklahoma), Colt McCoy (Texas) and Graham Harrell (Texas Tech).