Alabama football is in Norman to face off with SEC newcomer Oklahoma tonight at 6:30 PM CT.
The Crimson Tide comes in on a three-game winning streak. Following the loss to Tennessee, Alabama's second of the season, the Tide has reeled off three straight blowout wins over Missouri, LSU, and Mercer to position itself nicely for the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff.
Of course, none of that will matter if Alabama doesn't take care of business in a hostile environment against the 5-5 and desperate Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma needs to beat either Alabama at home or go on the road and defeat LSU to garner bowl eligibility.
You can bet Brent Venables will have his defense well prepared coming off of a bye week to combat Jalen Milroe and Alabama's high-powered offense. It will not come easy for Alabama on the road against a talented opponent.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel
Spread: Alabama -14.5
Over/Under: 46.5
Alabama opened as a 13.5-point favorite over Oklahoma. That spread has been bet up slightly to 14.5 as the majority of the money has poured in on the Crimson Tide.
Final Prediction
I have a lot of respect for Venables as a defensive mind and figure this game is likely to be low-scoring for a while. I think he'll have a good gameplan coming off of the bye week and will do some things that befuddle Milroe and the Tide's offense.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma, the Sooners have struggled mightily on offense regardless of whether Jackson Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr. has taken the snaps at QB. Even more unfortunately for Oklahoma, Kane Wommack has this Alabama defense hitting its stride at the right time.
I expect this to be a close game for a while and for Alabama to hit a big play in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.