Alabama stats vs OU in first half of CFP game: How bad was Tide?
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No. 9 seed Alabama and No. 8 seed Oklahoma entered halftime of their first-round College Football Playoff game on Friday, Dec. 19.
If a fan tuned in for the first time at the start of the third quarter, they might think it was a close, hard-fought game between the Crimson Tide and Sooners. Instead, Kalen DeBoer and Co. needed to overcome a 17-0 second-quarter deficit to tie the score before the half, thanks in part to numerous Oklahoma mistakes.
The biggest of those might have occurred not on an Alabama scoring play, but a dropped pass from Oklahoma's John Mateer to intended receiver Xavier Robinson, which would have given the Sooners a 24-7 lead in the second quarter. One play later, Oklahoma punter Grayson Miller failed to get his punt off, giving Alabama a short field to kick a field goal and make the score 10-7.
Lastly, Zabien Brown's second pick-6 of the year evened things up just before the two-minute timeout, giving Alabama a fortuitous comeback. Whether they can continue that trend in the second half remains to be seen.
Here's how Alabama and Oklahoma's stats compared in the first half:
Alabama stats vs OU in first half
- First downs: Oklahoma 12 | Alabama 4
- Third downs: Oklahoma 5-of-9 | Alabama 1-of-6
- Fourth downs: Oklahoma N/A | Alabama 1-of-1
- Total yards: Oklahoma 236 | Alabama 100
- Rushing: Oklahoma 20 rushes for 50 yards | Alabama six rushes for negative-3 yards
- Passing: John Mateer 16-of-24 for 186 yards | Ty Simpson 9-of-16 for 103 yards
- Penalties: Oklahoma 2 penalties for 20 yards | Alabama 1 penalty for 16 yards
- Turnovers: Oklahoma 1 | Alabama 0
- Time of possession: Oklahoma 19:38 | Alabama 10:22
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama stats vs OU in first half of College Football Playoff: How bad was Tide?
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