Don't Pour Dirt On Alabama's Grave Just Yet

NORMAN, Okla.–– Trailing by 17 points less than 15 minutes into the opening-round College Football Playoff game at Oklahoma, it was really easy to write off the 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide season as over. The offense had gone three-and-out on its first three possessions, and Alabama's "Swarm D" had given up over 160 yards of offense. All the momentum of the Memorial Stadium crowd was in favor of the home team.

But the final word hasn't yet been said about this 2025 Crimson Tide team.

"When people try to write us off, that's when we're at our best," Alabama linebacker and team captain Deontae Lawson said after the game.

No. 9 Alabama scored 27 unanswered points to erase the early deficit on the way to a 34-24 victory over No. 8 Oklahoma to advance to the CFP quarterfinal against No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

Alabama was on the verge of a fourth straight three-and-out when true freshman Lotzeir Brooks made a fantastic catch for a 29-yard gain into Oklahoma territory. He was in the end zone six plays later to cut the Oklahoma lead to 17-7, and the comeback was on.

The Tide defense forced a punt on the next possession, and Tim Keenan III was able to block the punt after a dropped snap, setting up the Tide with good field position for Conor Talty's first field goal of the game to keep chipping away at the deficit.

Zabien Brown turned the game on its head with a 50-yard pick six with 1:18 to go in the first half to tie the game at 17-17. Alabama's defense shut out Oklahoma in the third quarter, and the Tide took its first lead of the game on Brooks' second touchdown of the night.

The freshman finished with five catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Talty stepped up with another made field goal in the third quarter to give Alabama the 27-17 lead. Oklahoma did score on the second play of the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game.

Alabama took advantage of a short field and put together a four-play, 35-yard drive capped by a Daniel Hill touchdown rush to push the lead back to 34-24. That score would hold as the defense held strong over the final two minutes and Lou Groza award winner Tate Sandell missed two field goals for Oklahoma.

A double-digit deficit in the first half isn't entirely unfamiliar for Alabama. In fact, the Crimson Tide found itself in the same situation last time out against Georgia in the SEC championship. That night, Alabama was unable to respond, falling to the Bulldogs, 28-7.

It was a completely different story in Norman.

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb saw a different resolve in the team on Friday night in Oklahoma.

"I would credit, unfortunately, a little bit of the SEC championship," Grubb said of Alabama's comeback. "There was an address made with the guys with the mentality you have to have in a football game that games aren't over when it is 14-0, especially when you're getting the ball in the second half. I didn't feel the same resolve in Atlanta that I saw here tonight... Even when it was 17-0, talking to Ty on the headset, getting with some of the coaches, I felt like there was a belief that the defense was going to make a play, we were going to make a play. And nobody was giving up."

Friday's scenario also had to bring back memories for the Crimson Tide players who played at Oklahoma last season, when Alabama lost to the Sooners, 24-3, killing the Tide's chance of making the CFP in 2024.

"What I was echoing and trying to get guys to believe in was is just one score," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. "Just get one score. Even if you make it a 10-point game going into the half. And then you just get one more in the third quarter, make it a one-score game or just chip away.

“A year ago when we were in this very place, that’s what we had said. We were down, I think, 21 points at one point. We just said, ‘If we can get seven points on the board by the end of the third quarter— and we had an opportunity there right at the beginning of the fourth with a play that wasn’t called a touchdown— but we knew that, just get one. And those are the things in the offseason that we’ve talked about like, what do you do when you’re in that spot? And just chip away, just put a pressure on them."

Oklahoma has one of the best defenses in the country, and Alabama's offense was able to rebound after a rocky start. Most importantly, it did not turn the ball over.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson ran off the field in Norman with a rose stem between his teeth, and he was as confident as he's been all year in the postgame press conference, thanking the media for doubting the Tide.

"What did Kobe say?" Simpson said. "We're not done yet. That's all I have to say."

Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack may have put it best. His unit ratcheted up the pressure in the second half, collecting four sacks in the second half alone and stifling Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer as the game went along.

"The cool thing about the playoffs is we didn't come here to win the first round of the playoffs," Wommack said. "We're going to enjoy the hell out of this. We're going to celebrate it with our players. We're going to talk to 'em and praise the things we did well, but we've got to correct the things we didn't do well enough as well as we move into the second round. Great job by our guys, but this is not the end for us."

Alabama (11-3) has a tall task ahead of it. No. 1 Indiana (13-0) is calling in the Rose Bowl. Roses thrive in good soil, but there won't be any growing from the dirt on Alabama's grave just yet.

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