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MIAMI, Fla. - You've foiled a half-dozen surprise birthday parties, you knew Hannibal Lecter was hiding under that human face mask and you successfully spoiled the secret to "The Crying Game."
Sure, you did. Congrats on all that. People really like you.
But Oklahoma football on South Beach for a spot in the national championship game? If you said that, I'm sure you knew Vader was Luke's dad, too. What-evs.
Yet here we are.
From Sugar Bowl champ to 8-5, a quarterback switch, a coordinator shuffle and the redemption of coach Bob Stoops.
No one could have guessed Baker Mayfield would ascend and Trevor Knight would talk about transferring. No one could have guessed another shot at Clemson was a real possibility.
Yet here we are, at the Orange Bowl, with 25 predictions all made before the game that you can say you knew about when it's all over. Try it. People love that.
Tell them you knew 1. Baker Mayfield and the Sooners would score in the first 5 minutes of the game and the 2. Oklahoma defense would recover a fumble on Clemson's first possession. You'll look like a genius when you tell them 3. OU will run a trick play in the first quarter, too, as 4. Sterling Shepard throws a pass to Mayfield.
Plenty of people guessed Clemson was in line for this kind of season, so it won't be crazy to see the Tgers have a lot of success, too. 5. Like a 10-point first quarter, 6. A passing play that goes for more than 40 yards and 7. plenty of "Deshaun Watson shoulda won the Heisman talk."
You'll be right when you say 8. there will be a pair of lead changes in the first quarter and 9. at least three by halftime.
Vegas predicts this game to be close – 10. and it will before about the first 20 or so game minutes. After that, we'll see …
11. Samaje Perine have at least two touchdowns
12. Eric Striker have a sack and force a fumble.
13. We'll see Clesmon coach Dabo Swinney sweating by the middle of the second quarter.
14. And at least a good 30 seconds of ESPN-produced South Beach footage.
15. You watched Baylor run all over North Carolina with a fifth-string quarterback, so, your comparison to Clemson, via Oklahoma is lame and doesn't really translate accurately. That's OK. It was a good try.
Instead, tell everyone there will be 16. extensive talk of a Wednesday afternoon near-brawl between the Sooners and Tigers and 17. how the loss of a trio of players for the Tigers will be the difference-maker in this game.
But that won't be the difference today in South Florida. Predicting the Sooners' success this season was near impossible, but game-planning for Oklahoma, even with a few weeks to do so, is even harder.
You'll sound much smarter if you tell people the reason Oklahoma is the best team on the field today is because game-planning for Mayfield is too hard. OU has success today because 18. Mayfield account for four scores, 19. runs for 85 or more yards, 20. passes for 250 or more and 21. catches a pass, too.
This has been the strangest of two seasons in Norman, but Thursday won't be a surprise at all 22. because the wrong team is ranked No. 1. 22. Clemson doesn't get to 350 total yards against the Sooners and 23. doesn't score more than a touchdown in the second half.
24. Lay the 3.5 points.
25. Sooners win 41-21.
Tell all your friends you knew it would happen.
