Alabama football needs Jam Miller at his best to flip the script on Oklahoma in CFP

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The College Football Playoff is here, and the first round presents a pair of blockbuster matchups with quarterfinal spots on the line. Alabama and Oklahoma will get the second 12-team CFP underway on Friday night in Norman, with the winner advancing to play Indiana in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

The two SEC foes already played once this season, with Oklahoma getting a dramatic 23-21 win in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 15. Without that win, the Sooners would be out of the playoff discussion, so that proved to be the defining win for Brent Venables and company in 2025.

Alabama will be looking to flip the script from that first matchup, where it certainly will feel like it was the better team and had plenty of chances to get the win. The Crimson Tide outgained Oklahoma 406-212 in that game and picked up 23 first downs to the Sooners’ 12, but lost because of three pivotal turnovers.

Since then, Alabama is not playing its best football coming into this CFP. The Tide nearly lost its final game of the regular season against a five-win Auburn team before getting run off the field by Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

How can Alabama rebound and turn the tables to advance to the Rose Bowl? Its success may come down to one man on the offensive side.

Jam Miller is the key to victory for Alabama

The weakness of this Alabama team all season has been the running game, which has betrayed Kalen DeBoer and company all season. Coming into the CFP, Alabama ranks 116th in the country with just 116.2 rushing yards per game.

Part of that is due to injuries, while part of it can be attributed to some subpar offensive line play from a group that was supposed to be dominant this season. Running back Jam Miller is one of the notable names that has been in and out of the lineup for this Alabama offense, and he was banged up during that first meeting with Oklahoma.

Miller missed the start of the 2025 season due to injury and saw his carried reduced midseason due to some injury struggles. In the loss to Oklahoma, he ran the ball just nine times for 27 yards. The senior also suffered a lower leg injury during the Iron Bowl against Auburn and missed the SEC title game against Georgia, but Miller is now off the injury report and will play on Friday night.

Miller is not only the most experienced back that Alabama has, but he is also the best pure runner at this point in time. Daniel Hill and AK Dear are talented, but both are young players prone to making mistakes in a big game like this one.

To make matters even worse for Alabama, Oklahoma is one of the hardest teams in the country to run the ball on. The Sooners come into the CFP ranked fifth in the nation, giving up just 81.4 yards per game on the ground. They will be even more stout up front in this game after the return of star defensive lineman R Mason Thomas from injury.

However, Alabama didn’t lose the first game against Oklahoma because it couldn’t run the football. The ground game wasn’t great, mustering just 80 yards on 33 carries, but the Tide lost that game because of turnovers.

Quarterback Ty Simpson has cooled off considerably from the beginning of the season when pundits touted him as a potential first-round pick. After throwing just one interception in his first nine games this season, Simpson has thrown four picks in his last four games, including a backbreaking pick-six early in the loss to Oklahoma.

It’s become clear that Alabama has to help Simpson out by not asking him to do too much in the passing game, and that will be especially true on Friday night in a hostile road environment against a great defense. Getting Miller going on the ground is the only way to do that, and that will be the key to victory for Alabama in this game.

What’s a realistic expectation of success for Miller on Friday?

Obviously, it’s going to be tough sledding for Alabama on the ground in this game. As mentioned earlier, the Tide couldn’t even get to 2.5 yards per carry in the first meeting with Oklahoma, and things will be even more difficult for them with Thomas back in the lineup after he missed the first game between the two teams.

However, 2.4 yards per carry just isn’t going to get it done. This will be a possession game with not a lot of points and great defenses on both sides, but Alabama needs to be the more consistent team on offense.

There’s a chance that Oklahoma will be the squad that has more success creating some big plays. John Mateer hunts the chunk gain, and it seems like he is feeling better after three weeks off to rest his hand injury that he has been playing through. If Alabama wants to extend drives and keep Mateer off the field, Miller is the key.

If Miller is truly playing at 100%, he should see at least 20 carries in this game. If he can consistently sit at four yards per carry, maybe mixing in an explosive gain in there to catapult a drive for the Tide, that could be enough to get Alabama through this tough test and into the quarterfinals.

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Alabama football needs Jam Miller at his best to flip the script on Oklahoma in CFP

Jam Miller is the key to victory for Alabama

What’s a realistic expectation of success for Miller on Friday?

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