No. 7 Alabama suffers disappointing loss to Oklahoma on the road

NORMAN, Okla. — Alabama’s SEC title and College Football Playoff hopes have evaporated after suffering an inexplicable 24-3 loss at the hands of Oklahoma on Saturday night.

The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 8-2 on the season and 4-3 in SEC play with one week to go in the regular season. The loss all but eliminated the 7th-ranked team in the country from being able to make the SEC championship game in Atlanta, and will certainly drop the team out of the CFP field once the new rankings come out on Tuesday.

Oklahoma came into the game with a game plan built around running the ball and dominating the clock, and it worked to perfection. The Sooners ran for over 100 yards in the first quarter and over 200 yards in the first half, holding a 10-3 halftime lead and winning the time of possession margin by a decent amount.

The Alabama offense struggled mightily all game to get anything going. The quarterback run game saw almost no success, but was repeatedly tried despite Oklahoma keying on it perfectly. In the third quarter, the offense melted down completely, turning the ball over twice off two interceptions that gave the Sooners two easy touchdowns.

Those two turnovers pushed Oklahoma’s lead from seven points to 21 points by midway through the third quarter, a lead that felt utterly insurmountable the way the offense had been unable to sustain any kind of drive throughout the entire game.

Quarterback Jalen Milroe played one of his worst games of the season, completing under 50 percent of his passes and throwing three interceptions while rushing 15 times for just nine yards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

Alabama 3, Oklahoma 0 (3:27)

After trading a few stops, Alabama got on the board on its second possession of the game, capitalizing on a fumble forced by Bray Hubbard and recovered by Deontae Lawson. The Crimson Tide went 75 yards in 12 plays, with two long Milroe completions on the drive. One of those completions was to Germie Bernard to convert a 3rd-and-16, and the other was to Ryan Williams that was initially called a touchdown, but called back after replay showed he stepped out. Alabama stalled inside the red zone, and Graham Nicholson knocked in a 22-yarder.

Second Quarter

Alabama 3, Oklahoma 3 (8:14)

Alabama’s offense continued to struggle to move the ball effectively to start the second quarter. Oklahoma, with good field position off a shorter Burnip punt, drove 51 yards in 11 plays, stalling in the red zone, and knocking in a 29-yard field goal to tie the game. The run game continued to the focal point of the Oklahoma offense, crossing the 140-yard mark through four possessions.

Oklahoma 10, Alabama 3 (0:37)

Continuing to milk the clock and run the ball extremely effectively, the Sooners took five minutes off the clock and drove 67 yards in 12 plays right at the end of the half, capping off the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run. The score gave Oklahoma its first lead of the game.

Third Quarter

Oklahoma 17, Alabama 3 (11:37)

Getting the ball out of half, Alabama needed a scoring drive. Instead, Milroe threw an interception that gave the Sooners incredible field position. Oklahoma scored in five plays, punching in a 1-yard touchdown to put Alabama in an incredibly deep hole to have to dig out of.

Oklahoma 24, Alabama 3 (8:05)

With it’s back against the wall, Alabama’s offense continued to completely melt down. Driving out to the 50 with some nice runs, Milroe threw another interception, this one returned for a touchdown to give Oklahoma a 3-touchdown lead midway through the third quarter.

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama just has one regular season game remaining, the Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide will host Auburn in Bryant-Denny Stadium next weekend, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. on ABC.