Alabama Recap: Sooners stun Tide, run away with 24-3 win
Heading into Norman for last Saturday’s game against 5-5 and unranked Oklahoma, Alabama seemed to be ascending and on its way to a berth in the SEC title game as well as a spot in the college football playoffs. In the span of three miserable hours, 7th ranked Bama saw all hopes and goals flushed down the drain. In a stunner, Oklahoma rolled the Tide 24-3, essentially ending Alabama’s quest to defend its SEC crown as well as compete for a national title. The head-scratcher came at the absolute worst time and reminded many of the egg Bama laid against unranked Vanderbilt earlier in the season. In many ways, this egg was a lot worse. The Tide looked woefully unprepared and overmatched by a very average Sooners squad that was fighting to get eligible for a bowl.
Brent Venables’ defense, which had been good all year, dominated a Tide offense that, behind the dynamic running of Jalen Milroe, seemed to be peaking at just the right time. The vaunted Tide offense was stuck in the mud all night as Oklahoma limited Milroe to a total of 7 yards on 15 carries. The passing game was clearly off, as receivers dropped passes and Milroe was not sharp to the tune of an 11 for 26 evening. Worse, he threw three costly interceptions which included a pick-six and another that led to an easy touchdown. Overall, the Tide offense managed just 234 total yards and was held without a touchdown for the first time since the “Game of the Century” against LSU in 2011, a 9-6 overtime loss.
What was more vexing was the play of the Alabama defense. Kane Wommack’s unit had been celebrated for three weeks straight in victories over Missouri, LSU, and Mercer. Indeed, it looked like the mid-season struggles were behind the defense, yet that was clearly an illusion as one of the worst offenses in the SEC, one that ranked 91st in the nation, gashed the Tide for 328 yards. Oklahoma has one of the worst rushing attacks in the country, yet not on Saturday as they sliced through the Tide defense for a stunning 260 yards. The Tide’s inability to pose any threat to an average Oklahoma team brings to the surface many questions about the team and the coaching staff. No, there will be no firings and any call for such action from the Alabama fan base is ridiculous. Kalen DeBoer is an excellent coach and by all accounts, he has put together a great staff. Yet, the Oklahoma game exposed many of the issues seen earlier this season, particularly against the Commodores. Just two weeks after outcoaching Brian Kelly and LSU, Venables and company completely outcoached their counterparts in crimson. It was apparent early on that the Sooner defense was focused on stopping Miroe’s ability to run, yet offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan continued to run the dual threat quarterback to no avail. The offensive line has been hot and cold this season, and unfortunately, they were frigid on Saturday. It looked like backs Jam Miller and Justice Haynes were finding holes, yet combined they carried the ball 15 times and were never able to get into any kind of rhythm. The passing game was ineffective as receivers dropped passes right to them, and Milroe failed to push the ball downfield enough to mount any sort of threat. And perhaps worse of all, standout linebacker Deonte Lawson was lost for the remainder of the season when he suffered a leg injury early in the second quarter.
From the opening kickoff, you could just sense that Bama was going to struggle. On its second possession, Milroe threw what appeared to be a touchdown to Ryan Williams, yet the freshman stepped out of bounds at the 11 yard-line and after three plays got the Tide to the 4, they settled for what would turn out to be their only points of the game, a 22-yard field goal from Graham Nicholson. From there, the Oklahoma offense began to slice through the Bama defense. Deep into the 2nd quarter, the score was knotted at 3 until Sooner tailback Xavier Robinson, who gained a total of 107 yards on 18 carries, scored the first touchdown of the game from 18 yards out to give Oklahoma a 10-3 lead at halftime. The Tide received the second half kickoff and managed to gain two first downs before Kobe Prentice missed a key block on a screen pass and Sooner corner Eli Bowen picked off a Milroe pass and returned it to the Bama 14-yard line. Three plays later, Robinson scored his second touchdown of the game from a yard out to put Oklahoma ahead 17-3. Frustrations continued when on the next possession, Milroe was picked off by Kip Lewis who returned the interception 49 yards to extend the lead to 24-3 early in the third quarter. Yes, Alabama was robbed by a terrible call early in the 4th which should have been a Milroe to Williams touchdown that would have sliced Oklahoma’s lead to 24-10, but the chances of the Tide truly threatening to score more in the final quarter was doubtful. Bama experienced a third team’s fans rushing the field and returned to Tuscaloosa with more questions than answers.
This team has been perplexing as their highs have been extremely high and the lows are below sea level. How can a team beat Georgia (who benefited the most from the Tide loss and will once again return to the SEC title game in their backyard to take on the winner of the Texas-Texas A&M game), dominate LSU in Tiger Stadium and shut out a good Missouri team turn around and get dominated by unranked Vanderbilt and Oklahoma? It may be a sign of the new era of college football, where similar to the NFL, there are no automatic victories. At the same time, the Alabama program will need to do some soul searching and they need to do it quickly as an Auburn team comes to Bryant-Denny Stadium with a lot of momentum. Whether or not Bama can get a fifth straight Iron Bowl win over their rival will tell a lot about the season. In addition, it will be interesting to see if DeBoer can hold onto an excellent recruiting class and forge forward towards consistency in seasons to come. A ten-win season in DeBoer’s first campaign is not bad at all, and signs still point towards the program being powerful for years to come. However, for now, the Bama fanbase is beside themselves and are very worried about a dangerous 5-6 Auburn team that is also finding success on the recruiting trail. That is what two devastating defeats will do. It is indeed a whole new world in Tuscaloosa.
