Turnovers, Offensive Line Breakdowns Doom Crimson Tide in Loss to Oklahoma

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

When the final seconds ticked off of the clock at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday, the home team was on the shorter side of the scoreboard.

Alabama lost at home 23-21 to the Oklahoma Sooners. With the loss, it pushed the Crimson Tide from the ranks of the unbeaten in the SEC and dropped them further down in the coaches' poll. The next College Football Playoff Poll comes out on ESPN Tuesday night. 

Alabama might have looked good on paper as they outgained the Sooners yardage-wise and ran more offensive plays. Still, they also committed three offensive turnovers and could not protect the quarterback.

The Crimson Tide committed three turnovers against Oklahoma, while their defense was unable to secure any takeaways from the Sooners' offense.

For the fifth consecutive game, Alabama surrendered a strip-sack. Of the six turnovers by the Crimson Tide, four came via the strip-sack. This one compelled the Crimson Tide to pay the ultimate price.

Quarterback Ty Simpson, who was having a Heisman-type season coming into the game, has to learn how to either get rid of the football and not take the sack, or protect the ball better when he gets hit.

Alabama Crimson Tide | AL.com (@aldotcomTide) on XBama fans stunned after that Oklahoma pick-six

In the third quarter, Oklahoma defensive end Taylor Wein snuck into the Crimson Tide backfield so quickly, he should have had an Alabama jersey on. He hit Simpson from his blind side and Simpson put the ball on the ground. Linebacker Kendal Daniels smothered the football and put the Sooners offense in business at the Crimson Tide 38-yard line.

"Yeah, they were just putting a lot of guys on the line like we knew they would do," Simpson said. "They would drop some, then bring some, then they'd get two in the back and that was that."

Oklahoma would use that turnover to kick a 24-yard field goal which gave them a 23-21 lead, the ultimate margin of victory. 

Simpson said the Sooners brought complicated blitz packages which led to his forced errors. After the game he complimented the Sooners on their game plan.

"Yeah, so they brought it one time that was on tape," Simpson said. "It was against Tennessee, and so they were putting five guys on the line of scrimmage, and they were bringing two off the edge. It's what I threw my pick-six on. It's what I fumbled on, and there was one time where I picked it up and they checked out of it, and they brought it to the other side."

DeBoer said Simpson has to improve in the backfield, protect the football better and know that it is satisfactory to rid of the football when he is under pressure.

“Yeah, I mean, with the pressure that they brought, he's got to get rid of it and be OK with throwing it away," DeBoer said. "You can only hold on for so long, and I feel like with the blitz they had, you’re going to get overwhelmed and outnumbered. So you’ve just got to understand the situation. I know it's third down, and he wants to stay on the field, but he's got to understand, you know, your defense playing pretty good too. You’ve just got to live with punting once in a while.”

The Crimson Tide will have to win the Iron Bowl at Auburn to try and clinch a berth in the SEC Championship.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos