Tampa Bay and Oklahoma will meet for the first time in this quarter final game. The bottom line for Oklahoma, they are the number one seed and ride a 14 game win streak into the playoffs. Tampa Bay is the number nine seed and they are coming off a Wild Card win over the St. Louis Rams.

The Buccaneers don't have the flashy offense of some other playoff teams. The Bucs average of just over 20 points per game in the regular season ranked them 15th in the Frozen Tundra. To their credit they are capable of controlling opposing offenses as indicated by their number five ranking in points allowed. In Tampa Bay's Wild Card win they stymied the St. Louis offense holding Matt Ryan, Chris Johnson and company to just over 200 total yards of offense.

Oklahoma is a whole other problem to contend with. The Outlaws' winning differential of over 17 points attests to their potency on both sides of the ball. Even more scary, over their first four games they had been outscored by four points that's how dominant they have been over their last dozen games.

The good thing for the Bucs, they aren't afraid to play a tight sixty minute game and often that's the kind of game they are involved in. The defense is solid and opportunistic while the Tampa Bay offense has the capacity to generate points. Offensive consistency isn't necessarily their calling card but fall asleep and they can throw some points on the scoreboard.

Oklahoma is led by the Quarterback with the highest passer rating in the Frozen Tundra, Ben Roethlisberger. Oklahoma passed for 500 more yards than the Bucs on the season. The Outlaws have the dependable rushing of Halfback Frank Gore. Gore had another solid season but in total yardage both Tampa Bay and Oklahoma were relatively even. Wide Receiver Nate Washington and Roethlisberger exhibited some sore of magical chemistry this season as Big Ben and Washington combined for a league leading 17 touchdown passes. Now the keys to the game:

1. For Tampa Bay to have a chance they have to execute plan A and plan B. Plan A, time of possession. They did this quite well in their Wild Card win and they need to do it again. Too many chances for Ben and company and you're begging for trouble. Plan B, avoid the turnover. This correlates with giving Oklahoma opportunities and you don't want that.
2. Ben and Nate - maybe better than Ben & Jerry? If they help themselves to two scoops of Touchdown Sundae it will certainly leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the Buccaneers.
3. Both defenses were quite comparable in yardage allowed but Oklahoma was a whopping +18 in Giveaway/Takeaways. If Tampa Bay fails to slow down the Oklahoma offense early and it becomes a run and gun type of a game, the chances of an Oklahoma victory grow exponentially.

Teams offensive leaders:

PASSING	ATT.	COMP.	T.D.	INT.	RTG.
Matt Schaub - T.B.	549	292	13	14	67.6
Ben Roethlisberger - OKL.	473	269	33	9	97.0
RUSHING	ATT.	YDS.	AVG.	LONG	T.D.
Joe McKnight - T.B.	146	755	5.2	18	7
Frank Gore - OKL.	229	1156	5.0	25	4
RECEIVING	REC.	YDS.	AVG.	LONG	T.D.
Jeremy Maclin - T.B.	70	819	11.7	36	6
Nate Washington - OKL.	59	1092	18.5	75	17