What can Alabama football take from Oklahoma loss? 4 keys to CFP victory
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
To Alabama football quarterback Ty Simpson, the Crimson Tide’s 23-21 regular-season loss to Oklahoma was nothing different for Alabama.
“It wasn’t anything they did that we didn’t know that was coming, right?” Simpson said. “But it’s all about what we did.”
Simpson’s been saying the same thing since Day 1. Alabama‘s success comes from what it can control: controlling play, the team’s attitude and its output.
A rematch with the Sooners approaches, one that carries significantly more weight than that first meeting. No. 9 Alabama will take on No. 8 Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff at 7 p.m. CT Friday, Dec. 19.
What can Alabama take from its first game against Oklahoma? Here are four things to look for after rewatching the Crimson Tide’s loss to the Sooners:
Can Alabama football force Oklahoma turnovers?
The Alabama defense has the advantage in nearly every single category against Oklahoma except two: scoring defense and turnover margin. And if you ask Bray Hubbard, turnover margin defines what the Alabama defense is.
“It’s a battle every week to create takeaways and turnovers and get the offense the ball,” Hubbard said.
Oklahoma averages more than one turnover per game, with 10 interceptions and five fumbles lost through 12 games. Alabama is top five in takeaways forced and top four in turnover margin in the SEC.
Alabama’s defensive plan is simple: to use a “shots on ball” defense to force Sooners mistakes.
Can Alabama put pressure on Oklahoma QB John Mateer?
Keon Sabb and Yhonzae Pierre each got to John Mateer. Both recorded sacks against the Oklahoma quarterback. But the Alabama defense left the Sooners’ signal caller relatively untouched in the backfield.
Mateer didn’t do much with the time. He has one 20-yard touchdown run, but had 3 yards rushing on his nine other carries. He had a 65% completion rate, but against a defensive backfield that kept everything in front of them.
In this CFP matchup, though, it gets harder for a defense that isn’t one of the best at creating pressure. Defensive lineman LT Overton won’t play against the Sooners, forcing defensive coordinator Kane Wommack to be creative with his pass rushing personnel, combining looks from Jordan Renaud, Keon Keeley, James Smith and even Wolf linebacker Yhonzae Pierre to create havoc off the edge.
“That’s my job,” Wommack said. “We’re not reinventing the wheel in terms of what we are doing defensively. But who goes in what places and how we move those guys around, to me, that’s a big piece of what I do here in the back end of the season to maximize our personnel.”
Alabama needs Mateer under duress. If he’s not on the ground, Mateer needs to be rushing throws to an opportunistic, ball-hawking defensive backfield.
Can Ty Simpson find his rhythm against Oklahoma defense?
Simpson showed glimpses of the struggles that would define the back third of his regular season. He was inaccurate and inconsistent. He crumbled under the weight of Oklahoma’s pass rush.
But there were also glimpses of who Simpson was when Alabama’s offense was at his peak. Simpson was anticipatory, seemingly gaining momentum with each check down, each curl route and each slant completion. Easy connections with players like Germie Bernard and Josh Cuevas fueled the offense forward.
That’s the offense coordinator Ryan Grubb wants to see from Simpson immediately once the unit takes the field, one that gets in a rhythm early, one that moves the chains on third down and one that is consistent.
Consistency creates momentum. And momentum creates scores.
Will Alabama find a push in the run game against Oklahoma?
Against Oklahoma was when Kalen DeBoer felt Alabama found its footing in the run game.
Facing a top-five run defense nationally, Alabama had 108 net yards gained against the Sooners. More importantly, the Crimson Tide had room to run up front. And backs like Daniel Hill, Jam Miller and even Simpson were taking advantage of it.
That’s the world DeBoer wants his offense to live in against Oklahoma. He wants an offense that sets up manageable third-down scenarios, one that keeps an offense moving forward and not one that falls behind.
But DeBoer knows the reality Alabama’s run game will face.
“There’s obviously a team on the other side of the ball that is trying to make that world a little bit harder and not let you get in those spots,” DeBoer said.
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: What Alabama football can take from Oklahoma loss before CFP
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos