For the first time in the 44 years they have staged the Super Bowl, a team which plays its home games in a domed stadium will finally be crowned the champion of the National Football League.

Indianapolis and New Orleans made that a certainty Sunday in capturing the two conference titles. The Colts overcame an 11-point deficit in the AFC decider while the Saints survived a scary final minute of regulation and came out on top after less than five minutes of a fifth quarter in the NFC showdown.

It is the first time in 16 years that the number one seeds have tangled in the Super Bowl. Dallas downed Buffalo, 30-13 the last time it occurred in 1994.

SUPER BOWL ODDS:

Indianapolis opened as four-point favorites over New Orleans for Super Bowl 44 on February 7 in Miami. But, the line quickly jumped to 4 1/2 points. Since 1988, only the Ravens-Giants Super Bowl opened with a smaller spread. The over/under opened at 56, the highest in history.

COLTS-JETS

After building a 17-6 lead at Indianapolis, the Jets did not score in the final 32 minutes, and surrendered 24 consecutive points. That gave the Colts a 30-17 victory and put them in the Super Bowl for the second time in four years.

New York running back Shonn Greene was hurt with his team ahead, 17-13, and never returned. Would it have made a difference in the outcome? No. Greene doesn’t also play defense. Yet, the Jets counted on having him carry the ball more than 10 times.

AP Photo/Mark Duncan

Too much Peyton Manning. Three touchdown passes after two 80-yard drives and another of 57 yards. Great poise. 377 passing yards. First NFL quarterback to have seven 300-yard playoff games. Showed why he has won four MVP’s.

AP Photo/Mark Duncan

Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez kept his composure and acquitted himself well. But the speedy Colts defense often harried him. He did make fine throws on two touchdown passes. Pete Carroll was wrong. Mark was ready for the pros.

AP Photo/Michael Conroy

SAINTS-VIKINGS

Since it didn’t matter to me who won the Saints-Vikings game, I can say this, and it won’t sound like sour grapes. The NFL rule that allows the first team to score in overtime to win is not fair in playoff games. There’s too much at stake. Minnesota called heads and it was tails at the overtime coin toss, the Vikings never had the ball again and saw their season end. To me, the college overtime rules are much fairer. Give each team the ball 25 yards from the endzone and see what happens.

Still, the Vikings wasted a chance to win in the final minute of regulation. A penalty for having 12 men on the field took the Vikes out of makeable field goal range, but they could have won anyway had Brett Favre run instead of pass in the closing seconds. A scramble would have given Ryan Longwell an excellent opportunity to boot the game winner, but Favre made a bad pass which was intercepted by a guy named Porter. And, Minnesota never had another offensive snap the rest of the contest.

AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

I was proud of my fellow Oklahoma Sooner, Garrett Hartley, for his field goal that qualified the Saints for their first appearance in the Super Bowl. Hartley had called his father at 2:15 Sunday morning and told him, “Dad, I have a feeling I’m going to hit a game winner from 42 yards on the right hash.” His winner was 40 yards from the right hash.”

However, another OU product, Adrian Peterson of the Vikings, had trouble holding onto the football as did Reggie Bush of the Saints when he disdained a fair catch at his 10, and muffed it over to Minnesota. A Favre-Peterson handoff which went awry and gave New Orleans possession may have been the biggest play of the day. After turning the ball over only 18 times in 17 games this season, the Vikes committed a disastrous five turnovers.

AP Photo/Dave Martin

If that were Favre’s last game after 19 years in the NFL, he said goodbye in heroic fashion. Not only did he keep the Vikings in it with his arm, but what admiration you had to have for this 40-year-old quarterback. Brett was hit 15 times by the New Orleans defense and appeared to suffer an ankle injury that would put him out of action. No way. He didn’t miss a play. Minnesota ran 82 plays to 55 for New Orleans, but the Saints were triumphant.

In their first 11 years in the NFL, the best record the Saints ever had was 5 and 9. In their 13th season, they finished 8 and 8, but lost a chance for a winning mark when they blew a 21-point lead against the Raiders. It was not until 1987 and their 21st season that New Orleans posted a winning record. The first playoff appearance came in year 24, and it was 34 seasons before the Saints would win a postseason game.

When the team lost its first 14 starts in 1980, a local sportscaster urged Saints fans to wear paper bags over their heads with holes punched out to let them see. The words “Aints” were painted at the top of the bags.

You can understand how delirious with joy the fans in the Bayou area are at the moment.