-
bill connelly
2025 college football playoff It debuted in Norman, Oklahoma on Friday night, and we’ve already seen it. After all four home teams won by impressive margins in last year’s first round, alabama Became the first road team to come back strongly and win a playoff game oklahoma And won 34-24.
Here are the main takeaways. We will update it with each completed game.
What just happened?
Oklahoma had only 20 minutes to go on offense. The Sooners were perfect out of the gate, jumping out to a 17–0 lead against an Alabama team that looked completely unprepared at this point. But the Crimson Tide adjusted and settled down, and OU had only a brief answer. After trailing by 17, Bama outscored its hosts by a 34–7 margin.
We use the word “speed” a lot in football, but this was a extremely Speed based game.
1. Oklahoma led 17–0 in the first 19 minutes while outshooting Bama by an impressive 181–12 margin. It could have been as bad as the Sooners owen henneke Came within millimeters of a blocked punt that could have produced a safety or a touchdown.
2. Bama outscored the Sooners 27–0 over the next 21 minutes, outscoring them 194–59. New Lotzeer Brooks Caught two touchdown passes – the first on fourth-and-2 to finally get Bama on the board (after he had caught a big third-down pass earlier in the drive), and the second TD came on a 30-yard lob that put the Tide up for good. Pressure builds on Tide defense john materAnd his footwork and composure disappeared. A tremendous pick-six thrown straight zbn brown The game remained tied and Bama scored the first 10 points of the second half.
0:58
Zabien Brown stuns OU with game-tying pick-six before halftime
Zabion Brown took a big interception 50 yards to the house to tie the score before halftime.
OU responded briefly and closed the gap to three points thanks to a 37-yard run early in the fourth quarter. deon burks Touchdown. But the Sooners’ offense couldn’t get enough, and kicker tate sandellThe Groza Award winner missed two late field goals to ensure Bama’s victory.
1:25
Tate Sandell’s consecutive FG misses help Alabama clinch first round win
Tate Sandell missed two late field goals as Alabama defeated Oklahoma 34–24 in the CFP first round.
effect plays
Oklahoma defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa in November – in the game that ultimately certified the Sooners’ CFP bid – thanks to pick-sixes and special teams dominance. But in Norman the tables were completely turned. The Browns’ pick six was huge, and special teams completely deserted the Sooners, thanks to both Sandell’s miss and a bad punt in the second quarter.
The failed punt was actually the second of a two-part sequence that turned the game against the Sooners. First, Miter passed an easy third-and-3 conversion to throw downfield into the wide open Xavier RobinsonBut he cut the pass short and dropped it. On the very next snap, the bookie grayson miller Dropped the ball while moving in your punting motion. Bama’s Tim Keenan III The OU recovered the ball at the 30, and when the OU defense held the Tide to a field goal, what could have been a 24–3 OU lead turned into a 17–10 advantage. That set the table for Brown’s pick-six and everything that followed.
The early lead gave Oklahoma a fairly humiliating accomplishment: in College Football Playoff history, teams are 28–2 with leads by 17 points: OU is 0–2, and everyone else is 28–0. Ouch.
See you next fall, soon
We knew that whenever Oklahoma’s season ended, offense would be the primary reason. The Sooners played with almost no margin for error for most of the year. Their No. 49 ranking in offensive SP+ was the worst of any CFP team, but they’ve got enough defense (3rd in defensive SP+), special teams (21st in special teams SP+) and quality red zone play to overcome it.
The Sooners’ defense still played well on Friday night – Bama only gained 260 total yards (4.8 per game) – but special teams miscues put more pressure on the offense, and after a great start, it was over. Miter started the game 10-of-15 for 132 yards with a touchdown, 26 rushing yards and a rushing TD, but his last 31 pass attempts gained just 149 yards with five sacks and a pick, and his last nine non-sack rushes gained just 15 yards.
So Brent Venables is entering the offseason with some decisions to make. OU’s offense improved technically after the addition of coordinator Ben Arbuckle and the big-money addition of Mateer, but Mateer was playing poorly before suffering a hand injury in midseason and playing poorly thereafter. Do the Sooners run it back with the same roster core, hoping that better health and theoretically an improved run game can give the defense what it needs to take OU to the next level? Does Venables hit the reset button again? Can he ever get all the arrows pointing in the right direction at the same time?
what will happen next
Alabama’s reward for the comeback win is a trip out west: The Tide will face undefeated and top-seeded Indiana Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl. Bama’s defense will clearly face a tough test from the Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers offense, but Bama’s defense has been mostly tested this season. Their ability to harass someone will be determined by ty simpson And the Alabama passing game.
Simpson started Friday night’s win just 2-for-6 with a sack, and though he improved from there and threw no interceptions – his final passing line: 18-for-29 for 232 yards, two touchdowns and four sacks (6.0 yards per attempt) – his footwork still betrayed him significantly during the evening, and he misfired on a few passes. Oklahoma’s pass rush is scary, but Indiana’s defense ranks seventh in sack rate, and there has been almost no blitzing. The Hoosiers applied pressure and blocked passing lanes, and they stayed oregon‘S dante moore And Ohio State‘S julian sign From 11 sacks and two touchdowns to three picks and 5.1 yards per dropback. Bama will miss out for some reason.
“Congratulations to Tide for getting off the mat,” he said. He was lifeless early on, missing tackles and blocks and looking as unprepared as he did in the season-opening loss to Florida State. But Brooks’ play-making lit the fuse, and Bama counterattacked.
