Alabama defense stout early, then holds on for Orange Bowl win
December 30, 2018
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — No. 1 Alabama’s defense opened Saturday’s Orange Bowl against Oklahoma with perhaps its best quarter of the season, but the Sooners’ top-ranked offense would not be held at bay for long, refusing to let the Crimson Tide coast as it closed the gap to a 45-34 final score.
Alabama raced out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter, at that point having allowed just 24 yards to an offense that averages 578 per game. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Kyler Murray completed one of his first five passes and was sacked on the game’s second and third plays.
Oklahoma was 0-for-5 on third down and had three drives of five plays or fewer before it started to heat up both through the air and on the ground.
“We got off the field on third down,” head coach Nick Saban said. “The biggest difference between the points that they scored in the second half and what they didn’t score in the first half was our ability to get off the field on third down.”
The spark was a 39-yard catch-and-run by Oklahoma fullback Carson Meier, followed by a 32-yard deep pass from Murray to thousand-yard receiver CeeDee Lamb, who led all players with eight catches for 109 yards.
Meier, the rare fullback in the era of spread offenses, caught three passes for 51 yards but frustrated several Alabama defenders.
“You’re not used to seeing a fullback in this day and age in that type of offense,” junior safety Deionte Thompson said. “They can be blockers and (receivers), so you just have to do double duty, just reading your keys.”
The play that best encapsulated the Oklahoma offense came late in the third quarter. With pressure up the middle, Murray scrambled to the right to buy himself time to throw. Thompson got stuck between his run and pass reads, sophomore safety Xavier McKinney said he used the wrong coverage technique, and Murray uncorked a 49-yard rainbow to a receiver who had sprinted past both of them.
The quick strike turned what had once been a 28-point game into an 11-point margin with more than a quarter left to play. It was sandwiched between two 14-play scoring drives.
“(Murray) extended a couple plays for about seven or eight seconds,” Thompson said. “We were covering, he was running all over the place. Do you come out of the top and he throws it deep, or do you stay deep and he runs it for about a 25-yard gain? It kind of got us confused at times.”
Aside from the deep touchdown given up, McKinney played one of the best games of his career. He broke up four passes and recorded five total tackles en route to being named defensive MVP.
“I tried to work on my coverage a little bit more this week, as far as my man-to-man coverage,” McKinney said. “I thought I did well, but even still there were some things that I felt like I could’ve done better… but I just tried to make a play on the ball when I could.”
Oklahoma’s offensive line, winner of the Joe Moore Award, given annually to college football’s best O-line, struggled to give Murray time to throw and to open running lanes, as the Sooners’ two running backs had 54 yards on 15 carries.
Alabama’s defenders left the game unimpressed, with junior linebacker saying the unit was not one of the best he had played this year.
Sophomore defensive lineman Quinnen Williams attributed a slight hand/wrist injury and a trip to the medical tent to foul play by the Sooners’ front five.
“A lot of cheap shots were getting hit,” Williams said. “It was very chippy, for sure. … They definitely not the best offensive line in the country.”
With Clemson’s 30-3 win over Notre Dame, the stage is set for the Crimson Tide and Tigers to meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game for the third time in four years on Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, California.