Revenge, CFP weight and how Alabama vs. Oklahoma feels drastically different in 2025
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When Brent Venables was hired as Oklahoma’s football coach, he called Nick Saban. And the former Alabama football coach’s advice for the first-time head coach was succinct.
“You’re not going to sleepwalk your way to a win anywhere,” Venables said. “You’re not going to sneak up on anybody.”
The Sooners were Alabama‘s best example of that reality in 2024: an unranked team hosting a Crimson Tide team on a College Football Playoff trajectory, a team that left Norman without scoring a single touchdown.
Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams remembers that feeling, just like his head coach Kalen DeBoer told him and his teammates to do. But it’s one he still tries not to think about.
“We definitely wiped it away,” Williams said. “And we’re just focused on what this game means this year.”
This Alabama-Oklahoma game holds considerably more weight in 2025. Both the Crimson Tide and the Sooners are in the middle of the CFP hunt. Oklahoma, with losses to Texas and Ole Miss, could be eliminated from contention with a loss to the Crimson Tide. A loss for Alabama wouldn’t entirely eliminate the Crimson Tide from CFP contention, but it would set Alabama on a path of resistance with conference championship week looming.
Ty Simpson doesn’t feel this Alabama-Oklahoma game needs any more weight, though.
The Crimson Tide quarterback understands how bad the loss in Norman was, and how it affected both Alabama and its future.
“Everybody who was on the team last year and coaches as well knows what happened in practice that week and how we viewed, how we were complaining or whatever you want to call it, right?” Simpson said. “And we were going to make sure that, hey, this is the same scenario, same position that we were in a year ago. Are we going to go the same route? Or are we going to make sure it doesn’t happen again?”
This mindset is not new for Alabama.
After a 2024 road loss to unranked Vanderbilt, Alabama beat the Commodores 30-14 at home with 486 yards of offense in over 37 minutes of possession time.
Alabama also got revenge on Tennessee, beating the Volunteers 37-20 after a 2024 loss at Neyland Stadium.
Venables’ approach for a ranked Oklahoma team facing a top-four Alabama team on the road is one of hyper focus. The margin for error is small, he said. Each play “has tremendous magnitude,” he said. And the Sooners must be ready for a 60-minute game.
For Simpson and the Crimson Tide, extra motivation isn’t needed, even at the start of a practice week where mornings were 24 degrees in Tuscaloosa.
“We’re going to go outside, short sleeves and make sure we’re ready for practice and go as hard as we can,” Simpson said.
Alabama kicks off against Oklahoma at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday, Nov. 15 on ABC.
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: How Alabama vs. Oklahoma feels drastically different in 2025
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