Alabama lost its third game of the season to Oklahoma on Saturday night 24-3, eliminating the Crimson Tide from the SEC championship and possibly the playoffs.
Alabama went into Norman ranked No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings and left with its largest loss to an unranked team since 1998.
The loss came after two recent dominant performances against LSU and Mercer. However, fans saw major changes from the weeks prior that contributed to the loss against Oklahoma.
The ground game
Recently, Alabama’s pass attack has been heavily supported by a dominant run game.
Against LSU, passing the ball wasn’t entirely necessary, as the Crimson Tide found great success on the ground. As for Mercer, Alabama used both the air and ground effectively, getting five quarterbacks game time and 10 players carries on the ground.
That was far from the case in Norman.
Alabama seemed to be insistent on the ground game early on. There were multiple scenarios in which it ran the ball three to four times consecutively, even though there was minimal production.
The team recorded 30 rushes with 70 yards, a mere 2.3-yard average per carry, and zero touchdowns.
Milroe, however, recorded half of those rushes with 15 rush attempts, nettinga less than one yard per carry average and finishing with only seven rushing yards. Running back Jam Miller saw the most carries after Milroe, with 12 carries and 45 yards.
Despite better performances by the running backs, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan favored quarterback design runs for most of the game.
“We just got to execute better. The plays were there to be made. We just didn’t execute,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said.
Milroe’s performance
Milroe was lacking in comparison to his play in previous weeks. This was the first time in his career as a starter that he finished with less than 175 total yards.
He only had two completions off seven attempts in the first half. Both completions came in Alabama’s second offensive drive, which resulted in the team’s sole 3 points.
The passing game picked up a little in the second half, with Milroe attempting 19 more passes, but he only completed nine of them. He also finished with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of zero to three, the first two of which were major momentum drivers for Oklahoma..
The first interception came three plays into the second half, when Milroe attempted to throw a screen to wide receiver Ryan Williams even with Oklahoma cornerback Eli Bown inches away from Williams.
The pass was inaccurate and went straight to the defender, who returned it 25 yards back to Alabama’s 14-yard line. The Sooners converted it to a touchdown, making the game 17-3.
On the next drive, Milroe attempted to hit tight end Robbie Ouzts on a short curl route at the 51-yard line. Instead, the pass drifted left and was intercepted by Oklahoma linebacker Kip Lewis and returned for a touchdown.
“If I threw it a little sooner, we would’ve completed the ball,” Milroe said. “It was a pass we got to complete, so I take full ownership of that.”
From there, Alabama struggled to regain momentum. The next drive resulted in a punt after five plays for only 11 yards in a little over two minutes, with Milroe going 1/3.
Only two drives later, Alabama was having one of its best drives of the game. The Crimson Tide started on its 1-yard line and drove to Oklahoma’s 35.
Starting on the 35, Alabama made no progress in three plays, putting itself in a fourth-and-10 situation. Oklahoma showed blitz, and it was no bluff; Milroe dropped back, and within three seconds, he was hit as he threw, resulting in a wild ball and an interception to effectively end the game.
Throughout the game, Milroe struggled heavily on the air and ground, as an inability to run forced the pass. When those passes came, inaccuracy and bad decisions from Milroe contributed to Alabama losing the game.
Defense
On defense, the game was very similar to the Vanderbilt loss. Oklahoma ran a similar game plan, even implementing the same shovel pass that Vanderbilt gave Alabama trouble with, while also controlling the clock.
Oklahoma controlled the game in all aspects, but especially the ground. Quarterback Jackson Arnold ran for 131 yards, and running back Xavier Robinson ran for 107. Arnold has only recorded one other game with over 50 rushing yards.
This was also the third game for the Crimson Tide in which it lost the turnover battle, with the other two coming in the losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
“Turnovers were gonna be the key. We said that coming in,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We knew that taking the ball off them like we did early was gonna be big. In the end it flipped the other way. We turned the ball over.”
Alabama will need to win the turnover battle next week against Auburn if it wants to see success. Fans can watch the Crimson Tide take on the Tigers at home Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
