Oklahoma

8 p.m. n Chs. 2,7 n Pro Player Stadium, Miami n Records: USC (12-0), Oklahoma (12-0) Keys to the game 1. Battle of Heisman winners: The matchup between Heisman Trophy winners -- 2004 honoree Matt Leinart of USC and 2003 winner Jason White of Oklahoma -- is a first in a national championship game. Leinart, a 6-foot-5 lefty, threw for 28 touchdowns this year (with six interceptions) while White, a 6-3 right-hander, had 33 touchdowns (and six picks). Each is capable of having career performances, but each is also susceptible to mistakes.

ATLANTA -- It was a 40-minute blur of undeniable talent: Michigan 102, East Tennessee State 90. So this is how the Fab Five got its nickname."It was almost scary," ETSU guard Rodney English said after yesterday's second-round NCAA tournament game at The Omni. "Personally, I was almost afraid to miss a shot, because they were off to the races."Scary's the word. As in: These five freshman starters at Michigan are so good, it's scary. Asked where he sees the Fab Five when it matures in two or three years, East Tennessee coach Alan LeForce said, "I see one of them with the Chicago Bulls, one of them with the Lakers; I see two or three [National Basketball Association]

As a wise wag once put it, the show with as many big-time hits right off the bat as "Oklahoma!" is Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."It's not as frivolous a comparison as it might sound, not with "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' ", "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "I Say No," "Many a New Day" and "People Will Say We're in Love" one after the other. And that's just Act I, Scene 1!Of course the plot (what there is of it) had never measured up to the score, but with songs like these, "Oklahoma!"

Point guard Tom Coverdale or Donald Perry, Indiana: Coverdale aggravated a sprained left ankle in the South Regional final and when he went out, Kent State nearly came back. Perry, a freshman, was shaky against the press and hit just four of 10 free throws. Coverdale will attempt to play tonight, but he probably won't last long. Perry has a tough job against Oklahoma's grinding defense. If he struggles again, Jared Jeffries will bring the ball upcourt. Quannas White, Oklahoma: A smart, unselfish player, White is averaging 6.3 assists per game for the tournament and 4.8 for the season.

LANDOVER -- James Madison did all the things it had to defensively to upset No. 13 Oklahoma, but missed free throws were costly as the Sooners held off the Dukes, 64-61, last night at the Capital Centre.James Madison limited Oklahoma's normally high-powered offense to its lowest point total and field-goal percentage of the season in the first game of a college doubleheader.Georgetown and Seton Hall met in the second game.James Madison (5-6) made only 15 of 25 free throws. The two costliest misses came with 58.9 seconds left and Oklahoma clinging to a 62-61 lead.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fang Mitchell tried to hide the frustration of another tough road loss to a bigger and more physical Oklahoma team, 83-72, last night but it wasn't possible.It just hurt too much for the Coppin State coach.The same old story is starting to wear a little thin for Mitchell and he finally admitted, "This is the toughest road schedule in the history of Coppin State basketball. That was a big team out there."The same was true at Iowa State and Wisconsin in recent losses by the Eagles, who fell to 3-5 last night in the opening round of the All-College Tournament at the Myriad Center before a crowd of 9,048.

WASHINGTON -- One of the eager conservative Republicans who swept into Washington on an anti-government tide last fall has been caught up in the far-reaching fallout surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing.Freshman Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas has been thrust into the limelight to explain how he received an anonymous fax about the bombing as well as his own links to anti-government militia groups.Mr. Stockman, a vehement opponent of gun control who used the issue to unseat Jack Brooks, the formidable chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, last fall, staged news conferences in Washington and his home state yesterday to explain what he did with a cryptic note his office received around the time of the bombing.

MIAMI - Now that Oklahoma has re-established itself as a national college football power with Wednesday night's 13-2 upset victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl, some questions are left to be asked of second-year coach Bob Stoops and his amazing Sooners. What can Oklahoma, which completed the first 13-0 season in the 106-year history of the program and won the school's seventh national championship, do for an encore? Will Stoops, at 40 considered the hottest coach in the business, stick around Norman for the long haul or head home to coach Ohio State?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Todd Bozeman will always remember how he kept a promise to himself by returning to the NCAA tournament. Once there, however, the Morgan State coach and his Bears encountered a formidable obstacle last night: Player of the Year candidate Blake Griffin. Griffin and his Oklahoma Sooners, the South Regional's No. 2 seed, put a speedy end to Morgan State's tournament, pulling away early and winning, 82-54. Morgan State had played some tournament-bound schools in the regular season - beating Maryland and losing to Washington - but hadn't seen anybody like Griffin, the 6-foot-10 forward who entered averaging 21.9 points and 14.3 rebounds.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Texas and Oklahoma finally have drawn a line in the sand -- literally -- in their decades-old feud over the Red River border.The two states formally agreed last week that their dividing line is the river's south bank, at the point where vegetation commences. Both legislatures endorsed the new state line. Gov. George W. Bush has signed the Texas measure into law.If Gov. Frank Keating approves the Oklahoma version, it's up to Congress to give final approval to the new boundary, aimed at ending jurisdictional confusion that long hampered law enforcement, wildlife officials and taxing authorities, among others.