Oklahoma Beating Alabama Again Would Be One Big Thing ... Here's How it Happens

This is Oklahoma’s second chance.

No. 11-ranked OU visits No. 4 Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and the Sooners are hoping for — needing, actually — another upset victory.

Bama is a 5 1/2-point favorite to gain a measure of revenge for last year’s 24-3 loss to the Sooners in Norman, and after eight consecutive wins this year and a nation-leading 17 in a row at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the task at hand is a formidable one.

The Crimson Tide (8-1 overall, 6-0 SEC) are the best team Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2) has faced all season, and possibly the best the Sooners have seen since — you guessed it — Texas.

Everyone in Sooner Nation remembers the bitter 23-6 pill that Bevo crammed down OU’s throat in the Cotton Bowl: another Red River loss, another double-digit defeat, another sultry Saturday at the State Fair of Texas spent playing stupid games on the Midway only to go home without so much as a touchdown.

Now, redemption is possible.

But only if the best unit on the field plays like it this time.

OU’s defensive front played soft and tentative and at times a little afraid against the Longhorns.

This isn’t about Texas. It’s not even about Alabama. It’s about the OU front line’s ability to dominate the big boys.

That was a Texas team, remember, that had struggled to protect Arch Manning. The Longhorns’ o-line came into that game ranked 59th in the nation in sacks allowed and 55th in rushing offense — against a schedule consisting of Ohio State, San Jose State, UTEP, Sam Houston and a Florida squad that has since fired its head coach.

But against the Sooners, the UT line played its best game of the season, Manning was sacked just once and escaped a handful of pressures to complete some clutch throws (he was 21-of-27 after ranking 92nd nationally in completion percentage), and running back Tre Wisner, who missed most of the previous four games with injury, ran for 94 yards into the teeth of the big, bad OU front four.

Against every opponent this season but one, Oklahoma has posted a Pro Football Focus run defense grade of 68.7. In six of those other seven games, the Sooner run defense was suffocating, with a single game grade no lower than 76.4. That’s outstanding.

But in the Cotton Bowl, OU’s PFF run defense grade was 55.9 — below ordinary.

So come Saturday afternoon, while Bama faithful might be thinking back to last year’s lost opportunity in Norman, the Sooners’ front line of Damonic Williams, Jayden Jackson, David Stone and Gracen Halton on the inside, and R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones, Taylor Wein, Danny Okoye and P.J. Adebawore on the edge need to remember how Texas took the fight to them in Dallas, and then do some soul searching for how they can reach their potential against the Crimson Tide.

Among that group, only Wein (76.4 on 26 snaps), Halton (73.8 on 40 snaps) and Okoye (72.8 on nine snaps) graded out at 70 or better in Dallas. Four of them (Stone, Thomas, Jones and Williams) posted their lowest single-game PFF grade of the season against the Longhorns.

That has to change Saturday. If it doesn’t, Bama will win comfortably.

Jackson and Thomas have been listed as questionable on this week’s availability reports, so their absence would certainly impact OU’s ability to contain a dynamic and efficient Bama offense. If they can’t play, guys like Adebawore, Okoye and Markus Strong in the middle (81 snaps this year) suddenly find themselves with a tremendous opportunity to make a play — and maybe chisel their name in Sooner lore.

College football magazine magnate Phil Steele said way back when that this OU defensive front was the best in the land. And most of the 2025 season, they’ve proven him right.

Now it’s time to redeem themselves for the debacle in Dallas and put the brakes on Ty Simpson’s Heisman campaign — and beat Bama again on their way back to the College Football Playoff.