Alabama has had an Oklahoma problem for a while, and it feels good to put it to bed in an elimination road game when things going into the game and when the game started were not going right.
It has been a wild ride since losing to Georgia in the SEC Championship game, from this team should not have gotten into the playoff banter, to the Kalen DeBoer rumors, to being able to mount a historic comeback after it looked like John Mateer and the Sooners were going to run away with things. The impatient fans were ready to pounce on DeBoer, Grubb, and Wommack after the horrific start, but luckily this team showed the resolve that had been missing for a while when it mattered the most.
As bad as it felt losing in Norman a year ago to end our playoff chances, to the mind-boggling loss at home that made our road to the playoff that much more stressful, it seems like what happened Friday night made up for all the previous blunders. From Lotzeir Brooks making two of the biggest plays to start the momentum change, to the way the defense figured things out, and on top of that, for Germie Bernard to make arguably the best catch of the 2025 season to close out the Sooners, feels so good. December has been tough for Alabama football, and to right the ship so Christmas no longer feels canceled is huge.
This team completed the business trip to Norman and now sets its sights on the Rose Bowl, where the Crimson Tide has the opportunity to right another bad feeling after its last appearance in this game against the number one seed Indiana Hoosiers. You talk about the complete opposites in the college football history books, in what should be a very interesting game in the Granddaddy of Them All. There will be plenty of time to get ready for the next step in the road to a national championship, but hopefully the players, coaches, and fans will stop and enjoy the glorious feeling of getting the Oklahoma problem off our backs.