Last season, Alabama’s dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance in its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer was dashed by a 24-3 loss against an Oklahoma team that finished the season 6-7.
One year later, the Sooners were again able to vex the Crimson Tide.
Despite struggling offensively for much of the afternoon, No. 10 Oklahoma forced three turnovers to lift it to a 23-21 victory over No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The loss snapped the Crimson Tide’s eight-game win streak while throwing the race for the SEC championship into flux, with four teams in the conference now with one loss entering Saturday night (Texas A&M is the league’s lone undefeated team in SEC play). Alabama also saw its 17-game home win streak come to an end.
It was the Crimson Tide’s first SEC home loss since 2019 and first homecoming loss since 2001.
With the victory, a Sooners team that had lost two of its past four games after a 5-0 start kept its playoff hopes alive. Coach Brent Venables’ squad has games remaining against No. 24 Missouri and LSU, both of which come at home.
Alabama’s three turnovers led to 17 points, helping Oklahoma pick up a win on a day in which it had just 215 yards of total offense. Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, one of a handful of Heisman Trophy front-runners, threw just his second interception of the season, which was returned 87 yards by Sooners defensive back Eli Bowen for a touchdown.
Alabama’s two other turnovers, both fumbles, gave Oklahoma the ball inside the Crimson Tide 35-yard line.
Alabama also had a 36-yard field goal blocked in the waning seconds of the first half, a kick that would have tied the game at 17. It was just the second missed kick inside of 40 yards this season for Crimson Tide sophomore Conor Talty.
Alabama got its own 48-yard line with 53 seconds remaining, but a Simpson pass to Ryan Williams on fourth-and-6 was broken up by Peyton Bowen to seal the victory for the Sooners.
Simpson completed 28 of his 42 passes for 326 yards. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer had 161 total yards and a rushing touchdown in a winning effort.