OU football vs. Alabama rematch in CFP could've been easily avoided | Mussatto's Minutes
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Yawning at an OU-AlabamaCollege Football Playoff game is not the right reaction, but forgive yourself if you, like me, are a little bummed with the draw. I know, I know, the pageantry and atmosphere in Norman will be an A+ — these are two of the top-five programs in the sport, after all — but I just wish there would’ve been a way to avoid a rematch.
Oh wait. There was. And it would’ve been so easy.
A simple switch of No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 Miami.
In elevating the Hurricanes to No. 9 and dropping the Tide to No. 10, this bumbling committee could’ve given us a pair of fresh matchups: No. 8 OU vs. No. 9 Miami and No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Alabama. The OU-Miami winner advances to the Rose Bowl to play No. 1 Indiana, and the Texas A&M-Alabama winner advances to the Cotton Bowl to play No. 2 Ohio State.
Despite being conference colleagues, Alabama and Texas A&M haven’t played since 2023. Alabama and OU, on the other hand, will be meeting for the third time in the last 13 months.
OU and Miami haven’t played each other since 2009. Texas A&M and Miami played a home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023.
An OU-Alabama pairing doesn’t even carry CFP novelty. The Sooners and Crimson Tide met in the 2018 semifinals in Miami, back in the days when OU had a super-charged offense and a dreadful defense. You can either have Kyler Murray or this defense, but you can’t have both. Which means you’re either stuck with this offense or that defense.
My pal Berry Tramel, in writing about this very OU-Bama Part 2 possibility two weeks ago for the Tulsa World, came up with a good suggestion: “CFP protocols should allow for the selection committee to tinker with the bracket, moving teams up or down one slot to avoid rematches from this season.”
That’s exactly what we’d be doing to create the OU-Miami and Texas A&M-Alabama rematches. You could even do it to avoid another rematch in Ole Miss vs. Tulane. Have Tulane play at Oregon and James Madison play at Ole Miss.
The only downside to Berry’s idea is the straightforwardness of it. This selection committee prefers obfuscation.
I suppose these are good problems to have, though. Here I am whining about OU and Alabama facing off in the College Football Playoff.
Doesn’t sound half bad, even if we’ve seen it before.
CFP superlatives
Best first-round game: Yeah, it’s a rematch, but it’s still OU-Alabama. The only other answer is Miami-Texas A&M, but that game won’t move the national needle as much as the one in Norman will.
Biggest upset: Tulane over Ole Miss. The Rebels ravaged the Green Wave 45-10 on Sept. 20 in Oxford, Mississippi. Now they meet again in the strangest of circumstances. Ole Miss has a new head coach in Pete Golding with Lane Kiffin off to LSU, and Tulane coach Jon Sumrall is balancing duties between the Green Wave and Gators. My bet is that Sumrall has his Green Wave ready. Give me Tulane straight up.
Best bye: As in, which top-four seed has the cushiest quarterfinal draw? The answer is Georgia, which will either face Tulane or Ole Miss — two programs in transition.
Worst travel: Oregon. Good thing the Ducks host James Madison, because after that, their path to the national title includes trips to Miami, Atlanta and back to Miami. The Ducks might need to make their winter home in the Southeast.
Strongest shade: Red. Eight of the 12 teams in the playoff have a shade of red among its primary colors: OU, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Texas Tech, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. OU, Alabama and Indiana all claim crimson.
Best guess: I have Texas Tech beating Indiana in one semifinal and Ohio State over Georgia in the other. Buckeyes over Red Raiders for the national title.
Biggest snub: Notre Dame, of course. Followed by Texas and Vanderbilt, both of which had a better case than BYU.
Revisiting Big 12 football bold predictions
Time to see how my predictions from August aged. We’ll do the SEC next week.
1. OSU will go 2-7 in Big 12: The Cowboys might have gone 2-7 in the MAC. (0 for 1)
2. Big 12 goes 3-0 against SEC: I picked Baylor to beat Auburn, Arizona State to beat Mississippi State and Kansas to beat Missouri. Wrong, wrong and wrong. Why do I keep doing these? (0 for 2)
3. Colorado misses a bowl: The Buffs went 3-9 (1-8) and would’ve been the worst team in the Big 12 if OSU didn’t exist. (1 for 3)
4. BYU goes undefeated at home: Sure enough, the Cougars went 6-0 at LaVell Edwards Stadium. (2 for 4)
5. Texas Tech finishes last among Texas schools: Meant to say “first.” Clearly a typo. But no, I was higher than consensus on Houston, Baylor and TCU and lower on Texas Tech. Boy was I wrong about the Red Raiders, which confirmed Saturday that they’re far and away the best in the Big 12 and a legit national title contender. (2 for 5)
6. Avery Johnson wins Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year: Yikes. He wasn’t even a top-10 quarterback in the conference. (2 for 6)
7. David Bailey wins Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year: The Texas Tech edge rusher, a transfer from Stanford, won Defensive Newcomer of the Year. His teammate, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, won Defensive Player of the Year. (2 for 7)
8. Houston’s Willie Fritz wins Big 12 Coach of the Year: The award went to BYU’s Kalani Sitake, but I was on to something with Fritz and Houston (9-3, 6-3 Big 12). (2 for 8)
9. TCU’s Josh Hoover leads nation in passing yards per game: Hoover finished fifth at 289 yards per game. Another quarterback in the metroplex ranked No. 1: North Texas’ Drew Mestemaker averaged 318 yards per game. (2 for 9)
10. Iowa State and Kansas State play for the Big 12 title: Thought we’d get a rematch of the Ireland game. Instead, Iowa State and Kansas State both finished 5-4 in the conference. Think of how bold it would’ve been to predict that Matt Campbell and Chris Klieman were both in their last years on the job. (2 for 10)
You’re doing fine, Oklahoman
A former Norman High standout and walk-on Sooner will play for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I championship.
Dax Noles had an interception, a pass breakup and six tackles as Iowa Western Community College beat Tyler (TX) Junior College 41-29 in the NJCAA semifinals Friday night.
Iowa Western will face Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College in the national championship game on Dec. 17 in Canyon, Texas. The game, a rematch of the 2024 title won by Hutchinson, will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Noles, a safety, had 55 tackles and four interceptions this season — good enough to earn him a second chance to play Power Four football. Noles signed with Purdue, coached by an Oklahoman in Barry Odom.
A top-100 JUCO prospect, according to 247Sports, Noles reportedly chose the Boilermakers over offers from Charlotte, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, UNLV, Old Dominion, South Dakota and South Dakota State.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
OU vs. Alabama
KICKOFF: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19 at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman (ABC/ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football vs Alabama again? CFP committee could’ve avoided rematch
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