Special Teams Helps Get Oklahoma to CFP, but Collapsed vs. Alabama

NORMAN — Alabama wasn’t even going for a blocked punt.

But Oklahoma punter Grayson Miller gave them a gift.

Tim Keenan III’s second-quarter blocked punt helped swing the momentum wildly in favor of the Crimson Tide.

The Sooners special teams had been excellent all season, but on the biggest stage of the season, the group was one of the biggest contributors to Oklahoma’s downfall.

In Friday’s 34-24 loss at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Miller twice helped give Alabama excellent field position and the normally automatic Tate Sandell missed a pair of late field-goal tries that ended any chance of a miraculous late comeback.

“Nothing surprises me,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said when asked about the flip in his team’s special teams fortunes. “It’s football. There was a heck of a lot more that was amazing than poor. I put it all in perspective. … That group of guys — we wouldn’t be in the position we were in tonight had it not been for the consistency and how special they have been all year long.”

That’s certainly the case.

All it takes is a look back to the first meeting with the Crimson Tide to see that.

In that game, Isaiah Sategna’s early 42-yard punt return helped set up Sandell’s 24-yard field goal less than four minutes into the game that put the Sooners on the board, Miller’s booming 53-yard punt in the second quarter turned into a turnover when Ryan Williams fumbled, setting up a Sooners’ touchdown two plays later, Taylor Wein blocked a field goal just before halftime, and Sandell hit field goals of 52 and 24 yards in the second half.

Friday was the complete opposite.

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It started late in the second quarter with OU leading 17-7.

The snap from Ben Anderson was on target but when Miller dropped the ball for the punt, it wound up too far in front of him and instead fell to the ground.

Miller picked it back up and tried to punt it, but by that time Keenan was there to block it and Alabama had the ball at the Sooners’ 30.

The OU defense held strong, but Conor Talty’s field goal made it a seven-point game and after Zabien Brown’s Pick Six tied it, all of the momentum was on the Crimson Tide’s side heading into halftime.

“We weren’t going after it,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of Keenan’s blocked punt. “We were in pretty much a conservative situation there. … The field position against an Oklahoma team is so critical with their defense. So that was huge. That was really huge for us.

“The takeaways and the field position just really kind of was the opposite of the first game back at home. There’s more things we can point to, as well, but that was the case.”

The hits weren’t quite done on special teams for OU.

Early in the second half, Wein was called for a personal foul on Miller’s 54-yard punt as he extended his arm delivering a hit on the sidelines to Alabama returner Cole Adams.

The Crimson Tide quickly took advantage of field position with a 30-yard run from Daniel Hill and then a 30-yard touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Lotzeir Brooks to go ahead 24-17.

Early in the fourth quarter, Miller mis-hit a punt and it went for just 32 yards to help Alabama get the ball at the OU 35. Four plays later, Hill’s 6-yard touchdown run put the Crimson Tide up 34-24.

With just less than three minutes remaining, Sandell’s 36-yard field goal try had broadcaster Chris Fowler calling it good before the officials’ signal.

But the kick went over the top of the upright, and was waved no good to keep the deficit at 10.

Sandell hadn’t missed a try since Sept. 6 against Michigan — his first attempt of the season.

Sategna finally got a chance to return a punt with less than two minutes remaining, getting 17 yards out of it, but Sandell’s third-down 51-yard try then landed short to end any hope of a miracle.

“I think you saw tonight, if we had been a little better on defense when we needed to, a little better on special teams, I really believe that we would still be playing,” Venables said. “And we’d be talking about we won the game because of how well John (Mateer) played at the right times.”

But the Sooners didn’t, and now they’ll have plenty of time to digest what was a stunning end to the season.