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Eyes on the Prize

As Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and Oklahoma prepare to battle Tim Tebow and Florida for the national title, SI.com has full coverage from Miami. Stewart Mandel gives five reasons why the Gators will win, while Andy Staples makes the case for the Sooners. Plus ...

• Live Blog of the championship game

• Daily Analysis on The Sweep blog

• Top 10 teams for 2009

FOR MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS AND COMMENTARY, GO TO SI.COM/CFB.

FEATURED WRITERS

CHRIS MANNIX
Inside the NBA
Who's up and who's down in the weekly Power Rankings
SI.com/mannix

ANDY STAPLES
Inside Recruiting
The latest football recruiting news from around the nation
SI.com/staples

JON HEYMAN
Inside Baseball
Hot Stove action as the pursuit of Manny Ramirez heats up
SI.com/heyman

NFL PLAYOFFS

Still In The Game
Can Philip Rivers and the amped-up Chargers continue their postseason stampede with a win in Pittsburgh? This week SI.com has complete coverage of the NFL playoffs with the latest news and notes from around the league, including Don Banks's Snap Judgments and live blogs of all four divisional playoff games.

> Check out SI.com's photo galleries at SI.com/photos.

SI VAULT
YOUR LINK TO SPORTS HISTORY

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
JANUARY 9, 1984

Led by quarterback Bernie Kosar and halfback Keith Griffin, the Miami Hurricanes defeated top-ranked Nebraska 31--30 to win their first national championship. SI senior writer John Underwood captured the stunning upset.

ON THE morning before he sent his sacrificial lambs out to slaughter the butcher, Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger gazed out a picture window in his hotel suite and wondered aloud if the Nebraska Cornhuskers realized "what a bunch of alley cats they're about to run into." He doubted it. He doubted a number of things about No. 1--ranked, 12--0 Nebraska, including whether it was as unbeatable as everybody thought. Schnellenberger bit down on a bagel and wondered, too, if the Huskers realized they were about to get hit from the heavens by a round-eyed, curly-haired freshman quarterback who talks as if he's 30, thinks as if he's 40 and may not be spacy but is definitely from another world. "I doubt it," he said.

> Check out the latest classic SI story at SI.com/classic.

> For your favorite stories and covers, go to SI.com/vault.

Cover
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAMIAN STROHMEYER (EAGLES); ROBERT BECK (CHARGERS); JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (CARDINALS)

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SI Extra
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BOB ROSATO (BRADFORD)

HEAVE-HO Bradford (14) and Tebow will air it out.

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JIMMY DEFLIPPO (TEBOW)

[See caption above]

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MEL LEVINE (HEYMAN)

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ROBERT BECK (RIVERS)

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RONALD C. MODRA (VAULT COVER)

TWO PHOTOS