These SEC foes know each other well, as No. 8 Oklahoma punched its ticket to the 12-team CFP with a 23-21 victory over then-No. 4 Alabama in mid-November. This time, the Tide is headed to Norman, where the stakes are higher. Here’s a breakdown of the events leading up to Friday’s fight:
🔴⚪️ #8 Oklahoma (10-2)
No. 18 in the nation in the preseason, it won its first five to open the season before suffering its first loss against Texas in early October. It was quarterback John Mateer’s first game back from surgery on his throwing hand, and the postseason looked bleak after a 23-6 loss to their archrivals. But after losing to Ole Miss two weeks later, Mateer and the Sooners bounced back, winning three straight against Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri before taking care of LSU in Week 14.
The Sooners’ success can be largely attributed to their seventh-ranked scoring defense, allowing just 13.92 points per game. Brent Venables’ squad leads the nation with 41 sacks, averages more than three per game, and features the nation’s fifth-ranked rushing defense, holding opponents to just 81 yards on average. An elite pass rush that can stifle the run game is a deadly combination for opposing offenses, and a running back that only had 21 yards rushing in Alabama’s SEC Championship game is an area that needs improvement from last start.
Oklahoma State doesn’t have an overly explosive offense, but it does specialize in one type of offense: red zone offense. The Sooners lead the nation inside the 20-yard line and are a perfect 32-for-32 in the red zone. They are the only team in the nation with a perfect red zone scoring percentage. We’ll see if the Tide can stop OU’s first red zone this Friday.
🐘 No. 9 Alabama (10-3)
The Tide got off to an unusually rough start in Week 1, falling to Florida State 31-17. Tuscaloosa was armed after missing the previous year’s first 12-team playoff. But all that hype died down when the Tide rolled into Athens on Sept. 27, riding a 33-game winning streak at Georgia Sanford Stadium. And just like that, the Tide were back in the playoff hunt and had their best regular season win streak. Kalen DeBoer’s team led the standings until a home loss to the Winners, but the Tide won four straight to close out the season at 10-2. Despite a 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, Alabama still finds itself pushed into the playoff after an impressive regular season.
Alabama is led by a powerful passing attack, and center Ty Simpson. They are averaging more than 270 yards per game through the air, which ranks fourth among all CFP teams behind Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Miami. They have two big playmakers on the outside in Ryan Williams and Jeremy Bernard, and they have little to no supporting players with their speed.
Defensively, the Tide’s strength lies in their secondary, which has the 6th-fewest passing yards in the country at 157.7 per game. The Sooners don’t boast the most explosive passing attack, averaging over 200 yards per game. Mateer scored just 138 points in the first game against the Tide, and that number will be higher in the second.
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