{"id":68632,"date":"2024-11-21T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=68632"},"modified":"2025-09-13T16:10:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:10:53","slug":"alabama-vs-oklahoma-a-riser-and-a-faller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/11\/21\/alabama-vs-oklahoma-a-riser-and-a-faller\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama vs. Oklahoma: A Riser and a Faller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alabama will face Oklahoma on the road in a hostile environment this week after the blowout win over Mercer<\/a>. There\u2019s not much to be taken away from that win. They dominated a significantly weaker opponent as they should. Oklahoma is also considered a weaker opponent with how they have played recently. Not long ago they were ranked in the top 15. But they have lost four out of five with the only win coming against Maine. In those four losses, they were outscored 125 to 49. The most recent loss before a bye week was a devastating one to Missouri on a fumble return for a touchdown in the final minute. Alabama can\u2019t take them lightly though.<\/span><\/p>\n

Advantage Defense<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Bama defense\u2019s arrow has been pointing up. They dominated the last three games holding opponents to 20 total points. There is no reason that shouldn\u2019t continue. Oklahoma scores 25 points per game which ranks 91st in the country. It\u2019s the worst offense in the SEC, ranking last in yards per game and passing yards per game. Plus they are bottom three in rushing yards per game. The feature back is Jovantae Barnes<\/a> who\u2019s had a solid season with 700 yards from scrimmage and seven total touchdowns. He is the one true weapon and the only player on the roster with more than 350 yards from scrimmage. If the Crimson Tide defense can contain him, that will put them in a great position to win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inconsistent QB Play<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Sooners\u2019 quarterback play has been below the line all year. They have teetered back and forth between Michael Hawkins Jr.<\/a> and Jackson Arnold<\/a>. Arnold is the current starter and he\u2019s been inconsistent, to say the least. In his last game against Missouri, he went 15 of 24 for only 74 yards, an abysmal 23.4 QBR, and the fumble that cost them the game. He averaged 210 passing yards the three games prior while throwing five touchdowns and zero interceptions. The game before that he only threw for 54 yards, no touchdowns, and a pick. Arnold has some mobility having rushed for 238 yards on the year, but only 2.2 yards per carry. He most likely won\u2019t beat Bama that way, so the focus will be on stopping the pass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turnover Threat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

They leaned on the defense early in the season when the team was more successful. But when the offense has no consistency the defense will eventually wear down and that has been the case. The defense is in the middle of the pack in the SEC in most of those same categories. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer spoke about the Oklahoma defense during his press conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA physical football team all around. Their defense I think is an extremely tough defense in all ways. Just what they do with their scheme. And then their personnel. The way they fly around.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear he respects them. That could be because the one area in which they have thrived is turnovers, which has been an issue for Bama. The Sooners have only six interceptions on the year, but they have forced 13 fumbles and recovered 11 of them. The team has 32 sacks, so the Alabama offensive line must protect Jalen Milroe<\/a> to avoid sack fumbles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensive Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The offense has been decent when they are avoiding turnovers. They are top five in the SEC in total yards per game, third in rushing yards, and seventh in passing yards. But they are second in points per game, scoring 39.5 while only giving up 16.9. By those stats, they have been dominant. But the offense has not been tested much in the last month. The only true competitive team they faced was LSU. That was an impressive win, but even in that game most of the success came from long runs by Milroe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They have struggled in games where he didn\u2019t flourish on the ground. The toughest stretch the Crimson Tide had this year were the games when Milroe couldn\u2019t get his run game going. He\u2019s obviously been successful through the air and has two great targets in Ryan Williams<\/a> and Germie Bernard<\/a>. But they haven\u2019t had to rely on the passing game in a while. So if they need to, can they?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Good Spot<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Alabama could have their hands full with the Oklahoma defense. Early in the season, the passing game was contingent on big plays. That hasn\u2019t been the case as much recently. DeBoer did say in his press conference that he thinks Milroe has figured out how to be the best version of himself for his team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s back in a really good spot with trusting the guys around him. There\u2019s been a little more continuity with the practice and the skill players, offensive line. There\u2019s just been more of that. And he\u2019s become more comfortable in understanding what our team needs from him to win SEC football games.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparing for a Playoff Run<\/strong><\/h3>\n

DeBoer\u2019s confidence in his quarterback seems to be at a season-high. They are in the enviable situation of playing the easiest stretch of the season. It\u2019s probably the easiest of any of the teams still vying for the SEC title game. But that could also be a bad thing. With Oklahoma and Auburn left to play, Alabama will have only played one legitimate opponent over the last six weeks in LSU. That\u2019s helping the postseason chances. But is it properly preparing them for a playoff run? Hard to say and they might not truly know until it\u2019s too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alabama
Photo courtesy: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama will face Oklahoma on the road in a hostile environment this week after the blowout win over Mercer. There\u2019s not much to be taken away from that win. They dominated a significantly weaker opponent as they should. Oklahoma is also considered a weaker opponent with how they have played recently. Not long ago they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5300,"featured_media":68640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35574,35584,35586,35581,3],"tags":[35,8115,86,8082,383,37,20],"class_list":["post-68632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-alabama-crimson-tide","category-lsu-tigers","category-missouri-tigers","category-oklahoma-sooners","category-sec","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-kalen-deboer","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-mercer-bears","tag-missouri-tigers","tag-oklahoma-sooners","tag-sec"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78498,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68632\/revisions\/78498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}