Alabama football’s playoff chances took a massive hit on Saturday, with the team losing to Oklahoma 24-3 in Norman. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly in the loss for the Crimson Tide.
The good
Very, very little. The Crimson Tide were outmatched on both sides of the ball during the game, and it seemed like every time the team had an ounce of hope, a mistake took the hope away.
Defensive back Bray Hubbard and wide receiver Ryan Williams are the only exceptions to this trend, as Hubbard forced the Alabama defense’s only turnover of the game and Williams made a difficult acrobatic catch on what would’ve been a 36-yard touchdown that was wiped away due to a penalty.
The bad
Not giving the ball to the running backs enough. The duo of Jam Miller and Justice Haynes only combined for seven carries in the first half and made the most of them with 37 yards and 5.2 yards per attempt.
But even with the Crimson Tide up for most of the half, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan opted to go with more design runs with quarterback Jalen Milroe, which led to poor results, rather than continuing the success with Haynes and Miller on the ground. This led to the offense stalling.
The receiver drops and mistakes. Part of why the Alabama offense scored its fewest points in a game since 2004 is that the receivers were having issues throughout the night.
Both Williams and tight end CJ Dippre had drops on third-down plays in the first half, which led to punts. Wide receiver Germie Bernard lost a ball in the stadium lights on a well-thrown pass from Milroe that would have led to a big play for the offense.
“There were some things that are pretty easy that just didn’t happen for us,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Easy throws and catches, some drops early that take you off the field, some third-down conversions that we missed on.”
The ugly
Milroe and the offense. The showing on Saturday was about as bad as it gets from a unit, as it showed an inability to drive down the field and score points.
Milroe had arguably the worst game of his college career, completing only 11 of his 26 passes for 164 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. He also couldn’t get going with his legs, running 15 times for only seven yards.
The first interception began the collapse of the Alabama offense. Milroe was set to throw a screen pass to Williams, but a poor block attempt by Kobe Prentice let a defender through, and Milroe’s poor decision to throw it anyway led to the demoralizing pick.
Milroe followed it up on the next drive with a pass straight to Sooners defensive back Kip Lewis, who took it back for a pick-six.
The third and final interception was a fitting way to end the game. The offensive line, having consistently allowed pressure all night, once again let Milroe get hit while throwing the ball, which went right into the hands of Oklahoma defensive back Woodi Washington.
“We gotta take full ownership,” Milroe said, also emphasizing the need to start faster and take advantage of opportunities.
The offensive play calling didn’t adjust. This was a problem throughout the first half, as time and time again, the design quarterback runs with Milroe didn’t work, but Sheridan didn’t budge and kept running the ball with Milroe instead of giving Haynes and Miller chances.
Even after Alabama had gotten into the red zone on its second drive of the game at the 11-yard line thanks to big completions to Williams and Bernard, Sheridan opted to run the ball with Milroe twice in a row and then give the ball to Miller on third and 7, which led to no conversion and having to settle for a field goal.
The flag on the Williams touchdown. This had Alabama fans and DeBoer riled up, as Williams made a 36-yard touchdown catch that would’ve brought Alabama within two scores early in the fourth, but Williams was called for illegal touching.
The flag was thrown because Williams was covered up on the pre-snap, but some, including the ABC rules analyst, argued that it wasn’t a penalty and that the touchdown should’ve stood. The flag took any ounce of momentum the Alabama offense could’ve had away, and it resulted in a loss of down. Since it was already fourth down, it was a turnover and took the offense off the field with no points.
The defense failed to stop the run. It was a nagging problem throughout, and the lack of adjustments made gave fans déjà vu from the 40-35 loss against Vanderbilt, when the Commodores offense could muster up whatever they wanted against the Crimson Tide defense.
Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold ran all over Alabama, rushing 25 times for 131 yards and continuously finding holes in the defense. Sooners running back Xavier Robinson also shredded the Crimson Tide on the ground, running 18 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
“We needed to be more physical than them throughout,” safety Malachi Moore said. “When you allow that many rushing yards, it’s hard to win the game.”
The Sooners’ last offensive drive was a microcosm of what happened throughout the game. It was a 10-play drive of all runs resulting in the last 6:53 running off the clock and sealing the Crimson Tide’s fate as fans stormed the field in Norman.
The Crimson Tide will hope both sides of the ball play much better against Auburn in the Iron Bowl at home Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
