Oklahoma’s Playoff Hopes Collapse in Familiar Fashion as Alabama Storms Back
NORMAN - For a moment, it looked like Oklahoma might finally break through. Up 17 points early in the second quarter, the Sooners had Alabama on the ropes in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
The crowd at Owen Field was electric. The energy?
Unmistakable. But then came the unraveling - and it was swift, brutal, and all too familiar.
Alabama scored 27 unanswered points to flip the game on its head, handing Oklahoma a 34-24 loss and sending the Sooners home without a playoff win - again. That makes it 0-5 for OU in College Football Playoff appearances. For a program with championship aspirations, the postseason drought is becoming a painful pattern.
This one will sting. Not just because of the loss, but because of how it happened.
A Promising Start, Then a Collapse
The Sooners came out swinging. The offense was crisp, the defense was flying around, and the scoreboard showed a 17-point cushion early in the second quarter. But from that point on, Oklahoma couldn’t get out of its own way.
Turnovers. Penalties.
Special teams miscues. Missed field goals.
A dropped punt. A poorly executed one.
Missed tackles. Missed chances.
You name it, it happened. And against a team like Alabama, those mistakes are magnified.
Head coach Brent Venables didn’t sugarcoat it after the game.
“The turnovers, the penalties, the missed opportunities, the dropped punt, poor punt, the missed field goals… couldn’t get the stops when we needed to,” Venables said. “Doesn’t take away from the kind of season we had, but it hurts.”
Year 4 of the Venables Era: Progress, But Not Enough
Let’s be clear: this team made strides. Oklahoma finishes the season at 10-3 - a major step forward from last year’s rocky SEC debut.
The defense was more physical. The offense had flashes of explosiveness.
There were moments this season when it felt like the Sooners were turning a corner.
But in the biggest game of the year, the same issues that have haunted Oklahoma in past playoff appearances came roaring back. And that’s what makes this loss so tough to swallow.
Digging Into the Numbers: What Went Wrong
Now that the dust has settled, the advanced metrics from Pro Football Focus help paint a clearer picture of how this one got away. PFF tracks every snap, every assignment, and every matchup - and the data confirms what the eye test showed: Oklahoma beat itself as much as Alabama did.
Missed tackles and blown assignments on defense allowed Alabama to find a rhythm in the second half. Penalties at critical moments stalled drives and extended Alabama possessions. And on special teams, the Sooners left points on the board and gave away field position - a recipe for disaster against a program as disciplined as the Crimson Tide.
The Sooners’ offensive line, which had been a strength for much of the season, struggled to maintain consistency in the second half. That led to pressure on the quarterback and disrupted the timing of the offense. Meanwhile, the defense couldn’t get off the field when it mattered most.
What Comes Next
The offseason starts earlier than Oklahoma fans had hoped. There’s no trophy to chase now, just a long list of what-ifs and a deep evaluation of what needs to change before the Sooners can take that next step.
But there’s also a foundation to build on. Venables has this program moving in the right direction - the culture is stronger, the defense is tougher, and the roster is more SEC-ready than it was a year ago.
That said, the standard in Norman isn’t just improvement. It’s championships.
And until Oklahoma figures out how to win in the postseason, the questions will keep coming.
The Sooners had Alabama on the ropes. But in the end, they let them off the hook. And now, they’re left watching the rest of the playoff from home - again.