Nick Saban 'So Proud' of Alabama's Fight in College Football Playoff Comeback

The former Crimson Tide coach lauded Alabama's resiliency in its big-time postseason win over Oklahoma.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban at the college football game between Tennessee and Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Oct. 18, 2025. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban experienced losing to Oklahoma during his Crimson Tide tenure, and on Friday night, the Sooners almost defeated Alabama again in the first round of the College Football Playoff in Norman.

The No. 8 Sooners (10-3) stormed out to a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, but critical miscues paved the way for No. 9 Alabama (11-3) to get back into the game, and the scoreboard was tied at the half. The Crimson Tide ended the game on a 34-7 run in a stadium where it lost 24-3 in November 2024.

"I'm so proud of that team," Saban said of Alabama on ESPN's "College GameDay" Saturday morning before the first-round game between No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 10 Miami (Fla.). "That atmosphere was something, man... Oklahoma was really way up here [emotionally], but as the game went on, you could see that that emotion didn't sustain."

Part of shifts in emotion is game-changing plays. The Sooners benefited from those plays last month during the regular season, when they upset the Crimson Tide 23-21 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The roles were reversed in Friday's postseason action. This time, instead of Ty Simpson making a major mistake with a pick-six in the first half, it was Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer. That interception return by Zabien Brown tied the score at 17 apiece after a successful extra point.

The Crimson Tide scored 27 unanswered points following Oklahoma's early success. The score was 27-24 in the fourth quarter, but as Sooners coach Brent Venables said in his postgame press conference, the home team couldn't make the plays it needed to when it mattered the most. Oklahoma had other problems in the contest, like a fumble on a punt in the second quarter prior to Brown's pick-six.

Alabama became the first team ever to win a College Football Playoff game on the road, not losing a conference road game this season after dropping three of them last season in Kalen DeBoer's first year as head coach. For two previous games featuring DeBoer and the better part of the first two quarters on Friday, Oklahoma had the Crimson Tide's number.

"The resiliency, it’s been kind of a theme all season long, but showed up tonight in a big way on the road," DeBoer said. "Each side of the ball had their moments and big plays, and we just kept plugging away."