Alabama football has seemingly turned the corner after a difficult October that saw the Crimson Tide go just 2-2 and see its hopes of a national championship go up in flames.
But the beauty of an expanded playoff is that the second loss was not the end of the season for Alabama. All it did was remove the margin for error. Since the loss to Tennessee in Knoxville, Alabama responded with dominant wins over ranked opponents in Missouri and LSU.
Last week’s 42-13 win in Baton Rouge might have been Alabama’s single most impressive win of the season, perhaps more so than the home win over Georgia at the end of September.
Alabama now sits at 7-2 and seemingly controls its own destiny for the College Football Playoff, and sits in a good position to make it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship if things break the way most expect.
Prior to Alabama finishing the regular season with back-to-back SEC games against Oklahoma and Auburn, the Crimson Tide faces Mercer at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
In last week’s bold predictions, we correctly predicted that Alabama would force multiple LSU turnovers. And while Jalen Milroe didn’t quite get to 400 yards of total offense, he was still the star of the game as predicted. The only real miss was Ryan Williams leading the team in receiving as Alabama’s passing game revolved around the running backs.
So even in a game that isn’t getting as much hype as the others, we’re still going to come up with some bold predictions that are guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Ryan Williams was obviously the prized WR of Alabama’s 2024 class, but Caleb Odom was highly ranked in his own regard and has unicorn traits. Odom has yet to be a big factor in the passing game, but he has seen his playing time increase in recent weeks.
With Cole Adams out for the season, Odom has more of a path to getting on the field. Against Mercer, if Alabama takes care of business, this should be a game where the starters are out by halftime. That should open the door for Ty Simpson to come into the game and run the full offense, and a guy like Odom could benefit from that.
I’m betting Odom finds the endzone for the first time in his career on Saturday.
I’m banking on Alabama coming out of the gate and playing well, learning from its lesson against Vanderbilt following the big win over Georgia earlier in the season. If that’s the case, there should be plenty of playing time for backups like Richard Young.
Young missed some time earlier in the season following an injury he suffered against Wisconsin. He’s been the No. 3 guy in the pecking order behind Justice Haynes and Jam Miller, but Young has impressed when he has gotten the opportunity.
He broke a 62-yard run three weeks ago against Missouri, and he found the endzone for the first time this season last week against LSU in the 4th quarter. I think Young will get a lot of playing time in the second half this week, and I think he’ll break a big run or two and ultimately be the team’s leading rusher.
Alabama is fourth in the country in takeaways forced per game. It’s almost mind-boggling that they haven’t turned a single turnover into a defensive touchdown yet.
Either by a pick-six, scoop-and-score, or a special teams punt/kick return, I believe Alabama will find the endzone this week.
Ryan Williams looks explosive as a punt returner and if the Tide’s defense plays well then he should get a plethora of opportunities early in the game to make a big play in the return game. Williams had a 28-yard punt return last week against LSU.
I think it will be Williams who finds the endzone, but I won’t be surprised if Alabama houses a pick-six, either.
Alabama a championship contender with Milroe. dark. Next. Alabama a championship contender with Milroe
The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
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NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
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