Alabama had a tough opponent coming to Tuscaloosa tonight in a rested Oklahoma Sooners team playing for its playoff life. Unfortunately, some critical errors aided the bad guys and Alabama took a tough 23-21
home loss.
Kalen DeBoer led the team out of the locker room wearing his black hoodie and tried to bring a little juice, stopping to smack the goal post a few times in effort to fire up his team. Unfortunately, it didn’t lead to a fast start. Alabama got the ball first and promptly went three-and-out capped off by a third down sack, which did nothing to assuage fears about the matchup in the trenches.
Oklahoma then got a huge punt return to get into plus territory and followed it up with an explosive pass across the middle, and things were looking ominous. As it has done so many times this season, the defense stood up in scoring territory to force a short field goal, and Oklahoma led 3-0. After a trade of punts, Alabama got the ball again and the passing game finally got going to move the ball well into Oklahoma territory.
Unfortunately, that’s when Ty Simpson made a costly mistake that he has been lauded for avoiding all season. After a first down gifted to Alabama on a forward fumble by Daniel Hill recovered in bounds by Lotzeir Brooks, Oklahoma sent pressure through the A gap and Simpson inexplicably threw blindly over the middle of the field, right to Oklahoma safety Eli Bowen who returned it 87 yards for a 10-0 lead. Just like that, an already tough assignment turned AP level.
To his credit, Ty didn’t seem to lose any confidence from the turnover. He came out firing to Germie Bernard and had the ball back in Oklahoma territory in short order. Ryan Grubb got into his bag to get the ball into the red zone. Ty Simpson and Jam Miller both pretended to slip in the backfield. It had the desired effect, allowing Kaleb Edwards to slip behind the preoccupied defense, and Alabama had the ball around the 10 yard line again. An interception in the end zone was correctly called back for pass interference and Daniel Hill was able to power it in to cut the lead to three.
The defense forced another punt, and Ryan Williams was back to receive. He made a couple of his signature shifty moves to pick up some positive yardage, which would have been awesome had he remembered to hang on to the football. It was punched out as he went to the ground and recovered by Oklahoma. Sooners QB John Mateer then cashed in his good fortune with a 20- yard rumble into the end zone, and Alabama was right back in a ten point deficit.
This team has been lauded for its resilience this season and it showed up again at that point. Simpson went right to Williams to open the next possession, hitting him down the right sideline to cross the 50 yet again. A few plays later, Ty beautifully hit Josh Cuevas on a wide open slant that he walked into the end zone, and the deficit was back to three. The defense got off the field again and Simpson passed it back into Oklahoma territory, but a bad snap led, at least in part, to an awful 36-yard shank by Conor Talty to close the half.
Oklahoma started off the second half with a sweep and found a lot of room as we’ve seen too often this season. But, freshman Dijon Lee who has passed up Domani Jackson on the depth chart, was at least able to get off his block in time to make it a 20 yard gain rather than a long touchdown. A few plays later Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell made Alabama fans yearn even more for the Will Reichard days by confidently drilling a 52 yarder that had plenty of distance to spare, and Oklahoma led 20-14.
Alabama’s offense was cooking on its first possession. Alabama fans’ jaws had to hit the floor when Daniel Hill ripped off a 28 yard run. Josh Cuevas followed with a gorgeous catch and run with a semi-hurdle mixed in, Ty dropped a Sunday dime over the shoulder of Isaiah Horton, and Hill powered in another one for Alabama’s first lead of the night at 21-20.
The defenses stood up for the next three possessions, which were relatively uneventful. Alabama got the ball near the end of the third quarter with a one point lead and a chance to take control, but per usual for this squad they couldn’t handle prosperity. Freshman RT Michael Carroll, whom many have wanted to see get additional playing time, was on 3rd-and-long island against Oklahoma pass rusher Taylor Wein and it didn’t go well, as one might expect. Unfortunately the most important person who needed to expect it was Simpson, and he apparently didn’t.
The result was yet another sack/fumble, which has become a huge problem for him in recent weeks. Oklahoma made their third field goal of the game a few plays later, and that was that. Alabama’s last ditch offensive effort came up empty, and they had a well-earned loss that Ty Simpson and company can rightfully claim to have gift-wrapped. Can’t blame the defense for this one, though. They came for the fight and gave up only 16 points while being put in a bad position multiple times.
These SEC games are going to come down to a few plays, and Oklahoma made them in this one. You simply can’t give a good opponent a pick six and two turnovers deep in your end of the field and expect to win. And, Oklahoma made three field goals including one from 52 yards while Talty missed his only try from 36.
The play-by-play will look like a game Alabama was likely to win, but the scoreboard is all that matters and Alabama earned this loss with mistakes. It’s a tough pill to swallow, and we’ll now see how they bounce back from adversity.
Roll Tide.
