Alabama erased a 17-point deficit and stormed back to beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday night in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide will next face Indiana in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1
NORMAN, Okla. — Alabama's season seemed over in the blink of an eye. Buried in a 17-point hole midway through the second quarter, the Crimson Tide staged the third-biggest comeback in school history and rolled to a 34-24 win over Oklahoma on Friday night, advancing in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Turnovers, special teams miscues and complete failure on offense doomed the No. 8 seeded Sooners. And now it's No. 9 seed Alabama that moves on. They'll face top-seed Indiana on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl after a wild and crazy night.
“I just couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters after the game. “Resiliency, it’s been kind of a theme all season long, but it showed up tonight on the road. Down 17, coming back the way we did just one score at a time. We just really stayed the course.”
Here's the story from Bama Roundtable writer Greg Liodice on five things that turned the tables for the Crimson Tide.
5 Observations From Alabama's College Football Playoff Win vs Oklahoma
The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Oklahoma Sooners by the score of 34-24 and now they get to head to Pasadena to face the Indiana Hoosiers at the Rose Bowl.
Alabama went on a wild comeback in the final six minutes of the second quarter. Down 17-0, they capped off their first effective drive of the game — nine plays, 75 yards — with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Lotzier Brooks. A blocked punt led to a field goal, and in the final minute of the half, Zabien Brown intercepted a John Mateer pass and returned in 50 yards to tie the game.
Simpson connected with Brooks again on Alabama's first drive after halftime, scoring from 30 yards out to take their first lead of the game. They never gave it back. The Sooners did score one touchdown, but it was a 34-7 run in the final 36 minutes that blew this game open.
The blown 17-point lead was the biggest in College Football Playoff history, tying the 2018 record set by — get this — Oklahoma. That came in a loss to Georgia. The 28 other playoff teams that had a lead of 17 points or more were 28-0.
Friday's result marked the program's second-largest blown lead at home since Oklahoma Memorial Stadium opened in 1923. Winless in five playoff trips since 2015, Oklahoma now holds the record for the most losses by any school in CFP history.
"We had the ability and the opportunities to overcome it all even in just the last several minutes of the game, despite some just incredibly critical mistakes," Sooners coach Brent Venables said. "But it just wasn't in the cards for us tonight.
"When we needed to, we couldn't pull one out like we have in several other games this year," Venables said.
Alabama and Indiana have never met on the football field, but that will change on Jan. 1. But there are a lot of ties to the two schools. DeBoer was Indiana's offensive coordinator during an eight-win season in 2019. Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack had the same role at Indiana in 2019-20 before leaving to become the head coach at South Alabama. He joined DeBoer when he got the job in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama assistant Nick Sheridan is on the staff. He coached at Indiana for several years, and replaced DeBoer as OC. Strength and conditioning director David Ballou also left Indiana for Alabama in 2020.