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.
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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.
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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!
The College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night as Alabama heads to Norman to take on Oklahoma. But to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, there’s even more at stake for Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.
DeBoer’s name has been the subject of rumors throughout the offseason in the coaching carousel. Most recently, he received questions about the opening at Michigan following Sherrone Moore’s firing for cause, though he made it clear he intends to be at Alabama in 2026.
However, Wilbon didn’t sound as convinced. He predicted Alabama would not only lose to Oklahoma on Friday night, but DeBoer would also be on a flight to Ann Arbor to take the Michigan job afterward.
“Let me tell you about … two schools that could be in the coaching carousel after [Friday night],” Wilbon said Thursday on Pardon The Interruption. “Because when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – let me say it again, when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – the coach of Alabama, half the people in the state will want to run him out. And he’ll be on the carousel – oh, wait, that’s a G5 being flown to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he has said, ‘Oh, no. I ain’t got no interest in that.’ He’ll have interest [Friday night].
“And then, Alabama will be in the coaching carousel because they’ll be looking for a coach. … The Alabama coach is going to have a job-on-the-line situation in 24 hours and then, headed to Michigan once he loses. And then, Alabama’s looking. Then, what are you going to say?”
During a press conference this week ahead of the College Football Playoff opener, Kalen DeBoer was directly asked if he intended to be Alabama’s head coach next season. He responded, “Yes.”
Earlier in that press conference, DeBoer received a question about the rumors surrounding him. He again spoke highly of his tenure at Alabama so far and made it clear he’s happy in Tuscaloosa.
“A lot of the same things I said before, a couple weeks ago, when asked really the same question, just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said. “My family loves living here. Just all the things that we continue to build on, love the progress. Haven’t talked with anyone, no plans of talking with anyone. So just, I think that’s a lot of what I said a couple weeks ago, and continues to be the same thing.
“Feel strong about it. And our guys, if there’s been any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it. I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise is out there. And again, we probably all season long, have dealt with enough noise to where it wouldn’t surprise me on how they handle this.”
This is an opinion column.
Alabama has been here before.
Not this Alabama quarterback or this Alabama coach or this Alabama team, but that script “A” brand. Those crimson helmets. That championship DNA.
Questioned. Doubted. Defeated in the regular season in its own sandbox by a team it would be forced to meet again in the postseason in that team’s back yard.
Except the players and coaches who made up the 2011 Alabama football team didn’t question or doubt themselves after the Game of the Century went the wrong way. They didn’t feel defeated by LSU 9, Alabama 6 in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
When the polls and computers combined to put them in the BCS Championship Game in New Orleans, they didn’t look at it as if they were forced to play LSU again even though pundits were already talking about those Tigers as one of the greatest teams in college football history.
Just the opposite. Alabama felt fortunate. Confident. Almost arrogant. AJ McCarron, Trent Richardson and the rest learned something about themselves and their opponent on Nov. 5, 2011. The scoreboard said Alabama was the loser in that No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown. Their hearts and minds told them they were the better team.
Given a second chance, they proved it. They shut down LSU, shut up the critics and locked down another national championship. Alabama 21, LSU 0 told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The better team lived in Tuscaloosa.
That team believed it but needed a second chance to validate it. This team should feel the same way when it gets on the plane to kick off the 2025 College Football Playoff on Friday night.
Round 2 of Alabama vs. Oklahoma is not the second coming of the Jan. 9, 2012 Game of the Century Part Deaux, but it is a reasonable facsimile. When their heads hit the pillow on the night of Nov. 15, after Oklahoma 23, Alabama 21, Kalen DeBoer and company had every reason to believe the scoreboard showed some facts without telling the truth.
Alabama ran 24 more plays and gained 194 more yards that day. Alabama possessed the ball 8 minutes and 56 seconds longer. Each team faced 13 third downs. Alabama converted five of them, two more than Oklahoma. Alabama committed three fewer penalties.
There was a serious disconnect between the box score and the final score until you looked at the turnovers. Alabama committed three of them, Oklahoma not one. The Sooners turned those turnovers into 17 points. Ballgame.
It’s one thing to feel like you gave your best effort but lost to a better team. It’s far more maddening to know in your gut that you were your own worst enemy.
Ty Simpson was better than John Mateer that day except for the killer interception that turned a promising drive into an 87-yard pick-six. Alabama’s underappreciated defense was better than Oklahoma’s celebrated unit except for the sudden change after Ryan Williams fumbled a punt and OU scored a touchdown two plays later.
The field tilted decisively toward the Sooners only on special teams, but it was more than enough to give them the signature victory they lacked.
To supplement the punt coverage punchout, the nation’s best kicker, OU’s Tate Sandell, went 3 for 3 on field goals, including a 52-yard laser. Alabama’s Conor Talty had his only attempt partially blocked but it might not have mattered, and rather than writing his name in crimson flame, he torched his rep by berating his snapper in plain sight.
One play made here or there or a single mistake erased, and Alabama wins the game. Will the Crimson Tide make the same mistakes twice? They didn’t in January of 2012, the last time an Alabama team got a do-over after a defeat against the same opponent in the same season.
Don’t misunderstand. This 2025 Alabama team is not that 2011 team, but there is one striking similarity. This team is better than it showed on that unseasonably warm Tuscaloosa afternoon in mid-November. This team, pound for pound and player for player, is better than Oklahoma.
All this team has to do now is prove it, in the box score and on the scoreboard. Kadyn Proctor, Bray Hubbard and the rest have to get in OU’s face in OU’s house, make their mark and leave no doubt.
No one has to believe it but them.
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