Ty Simpson enters 'Kobe' era with Alabama football CFP win vs Oklahoma
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NORMAN, Okla. — Kalen DeBoer had Alabama football prepared for this moment.
Leading a team down 17 points in the second quarter of the College Football Playoff first round game at Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide coach was pushing for one score. Something small to chip at the deficit.
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was thinking bigger.
“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind,” Simpson said. “I mean, the guys we have, the players, the coaches, 17 nothing, it’s nothing to us. Give us the ball. We’ll go down. Do what we do. Give them the ball. They go down and do what they do.”
This comes from a quarterback who had thrown four interceptions in his past four games, one who had struggled to hold onto the football when he’s been hit. It’s the same quarterbacks who’s been sacked 10 times in his last four games, and four more times Friday, Dec. 19 against Oklahoma.
But in Alabama’s 34-24 win against the Sooners, Simpson wasn’t the “old Ty” anymore, the one people called for leading up to the Auburn game asking where he’s been. No. This was something entirely different.
This new Simpson could stem from the athlete he quoted when talking about the naysayers, the doubters.
“What did Kobe (Bryant) say?” Simpson asked. “We’re not done yet. That’s all I got to say.”
Simpson wasn’t close to perfect. He led an Alabama offense that didn’t secure its first first down until the second quarter. That first first down was for a unit that had 17 yards to its name and a 17-point deficit.
But Simpson found a rhythm. He leaned on receivers like Lotzeir Brooks, Isaiah Horton and Josh Cuevas. He even tucked and ran the ball on run-pass option plays.
Simpson finished with 232 passing yards and two touchdowns, completing 18 of his 29 pass attempts.
In Simpson, DeBoer saw a quarterback “committed to just bringing energy, something he promised the rest of the Crimson Tide roster the night before by saying, “I’m just going to give you everything I got.”
“I think that just led to him going out there and making some plays,” DeBoer said.
It’s what Alabama needed Simpson to be against the Sooners. It’s what the Crimson Tide will need Simpson to be again in the CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl against Indiana.
DeBoer expects Simpson to be the guy that, while the coach is pushing for one score, the quarterback is wanting it all.
“Ty seemed pretty confident,” DeBoer said with a laugh.
Alabama will take on Indiana in the 2026 Rose Bowl Thursday, Jan. 1.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Ty Simpson enters ‘Kobe’ era with Alabama CFP win vs Oklahoma
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