Alabama is in the College Football Playoff, despite its best efforts in Saturday's SEC Championship Game, and it will face a familiar opponent.
The Crimson Tide will travel to Oklahoma on Friday, December 19th, to take on the Sooners in the first round of the playoff. It's a perfect opportunity for Alabama to right a regular-season wrong.
The 2025 season was a revenge tour for the Crimson Tide after last season's disappointment of missing the playoff. Kalen DeBoer led Alabama to revenge wins over both Vanderbilt and Tennessee, two teams that beat the Crimson Tide during the 2024 regular season.
It couldn't quite complete the trifecta. Alabama lost to Oklahoma at home in November, falling 23-21 in a game that the Crimson Tide had a 95% post-game win expectancy, but were let down due to three turnovers.
Brent Venables' defense befuddled Ty Simpson at times, which has become all too common in recent weeks. Alabama matches up pretty well against Oklahoma, but Simpson and the offense's struggles in recent weeks, paired with a challenging road environment in Norman, will make this an incredibly difficult game.
A revenge win over Oklahoma would prove Alabama's doubters wrong
Much will be said and written in the coming days about Alabama remaining in the College Football Playoff field - and not dropping a single spot - despite a three-touchdown loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
That's fine. It doesn't change the fact that Alabama is in the 12-team field and DeBoer has accomplished his biggest goal for this season. Now, the Crimson Tide will set out to try and make a run.
We'll need to see a lot better Alabama team in 12 days in Norman, however, to avoid an early playoff exit. A win over the Sooners would prove that the Tide belonged in the playoff. A loss will just make the haters' voices even louder.
Alabama's path is set up decently. They avoid the potential for a 3rd matchup with Georgia or having to deal with Ohio State before the National Championship Game. A win over Oklahoma would send Alabama to the Rose Bowl to take on Indiana. The semifinal matchup, if the Crimson Tide can knock off the Hoosiers, would likely be either Oregon or Texas Tech.
Alabama couldn't have asked for a better path. Now it's up to them to go out and prove they are among the nation's best, and the team we saw in Atlanta is not indicative of its overall quality.