Alabama Football: ‘Bama Hammer’ Orange Bowl prediction, Chris Dodson

I think Alabama football fans will be able to breathe in the second half as the Crimson Tide will take control of the Orange Bowl, CFB Playoff semi-final.

Alabama’s recent history against the Sooners hasn’t exactly been rosy. Alabama football has only played Oklahoma five times and they beat the Sooners in the first matchup, when Paul W. Bryant was head coach, in 1963. The next contest was in 1970, a disappointing tie. Since then, the other three games have been played between 2002-2014, all of which have gone to Oklahoma.

Those three games, however, had Bob Stoops coaching from the sideline. Stoops is no fan of the SEC, but when he was coaching, he had the strategy genius to back it all up. Now, I’m not saying that this game is won or lost on coaching alone. But, with Lincoln Riley calling the shots now, it will be slightly different from past years.

All in all, it will come down to one factor and one alone:

Defense

It’s no secret that Alabama’s defense has shaped up and become much better than they were earlier in the season. Sure, a few plays got away from them against Georgia, but that was against an offensive coaching powerhouse in Kirby Smart. While Riley is good, he’s not Kirby Smart good.

Alabama’s defense will be put to test with Kyler Murray and Co. Oklahoma like to employ a lot of different schemes to their offense, so you can expect a lot of adjustments to come from Nick Saban and Tosh Lupoi during the game. They will be more able to make those adjustments better than the Sooners, however.

For the Sooners, their defense has been their biggest question mark. While they have been stout at times, they have been more likely to allow an 18-wheeler through defensive holes than not. Their last four regular-season games, they gave up no less than 40 points per game, that coming against a 3-9 Kansas team. On their worst day they gave up 56 to the then,16th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. The Sooners did manage to hold Texas to more than half the points given up in the Red River Rivalry.

Prediction

All in all, this Sooners Defense is hot and cold. You know what you are getting with their offense, so the defense seems to be the most variable factor. Even if they make adjustments at halftime, I think Alabama football will make those adjustments better and ultimately dominate the second half. Even if Oklahoma’s defense put up its best effort, it doesn’t have the conditioning to go four quarters with the big heavies of Alabama’s offensive line. Alabama will move on and win the Orange Bowl and will probably play Clemson again for the National Championship in Santa Clara.

Chris Dodson Game Prediction: Alabama Crimson Tide 42 – Oklahoma Sooners 21

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