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MIAMI -- Oklahoma may go down as the best team in the history of college football that simply can't win in January. The Sooners were at it again in Thursday night's BCS national championship game, falling 24-14 to Tim Tebow-led Florida.

The Sooners had their chances early but failed to score any points on two separate first-half drives, the first reaching all the way to the 1-yard line and the second all the way to the 6. Instead of OU conceivably leading 21-7 at the half it was 7-7.

That laid the groundwork for a contest of missed opportunities that played itself out the rest of the way on both sides of the ball.

In the battle between last season's Heisman Trophy winner, Tebow, and this season's Heisman Trophy winner, Sooner quarterback Sam Bradford, both played well, but Tebow was the clear difference-maker.

He led an offense that converted 12 of 17 third-downs, keeping the ball away from the highest scoring offense in the history of modern college football. Tebow picked up many of those conversions himself, running for 109 yards on 15 carries to go with 231 passing yards, including a late 4-yard jump-pass to David Nelson that capped the scoring and all but put the game on ice.

Bradford threw for 256 yards, completing 26 of 41 passes, but also threw two interceptions. The first was costly, keeping OU from scoring points right before the half, and the second, ironically, was crippling despite Bradford throwing a perfect ball into the outstretched arms of Jauquin Iglesias. Only before the Sooner receiver could fall to earth with the pigskin, Ahmad Black had taken it out of his hands with the defensive play of the game.

Had the pass been complete, OU would have been in shape to complete a game-tying drive with much of the fourth quarter remaining. Instead, the Gators took off on the put-away drive that culminated in Nelson's score.

It is another bitter season's end for the Sooner Nation, which has watched its favorite team reel off three consecutive Big 12 championships without a bowl victory.

OU has lost three of the last six national championship games, as well as the Fiesta Bowl each of the previous two seasons. The last bowl game the Sooners claimed was the 2005 Holiday, a 17-14 victory over Oregon in which quarterback Rhett Bomar was named MVP. OU has not won a BCS bowl game since defeating Washington at the 2003 Rose Bowl.

Unlike some of their previous BCS losses, the Sooners were in it until nearly the end. Yet like all of their recent January failures, they could not make the plays that decided the game.

Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com