E102 S1 BH Bama win over Sooners 34 24 Upon Further Review

Alabama defeated Oklahoma 34-24 in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday, December 19, 2025, after rallying from an early 17-point deficit. The win advances the Crimson Tide to the Rose Bowl to face No. 1 seed Indiana. Stats In favor of Oklahoma 18 first downs to 12 3rd down effiicience – 7-18 to 2-12 Total Yards – 362 to 260 Time of Possession: 33 to 27 Penalties 5-50 to 4-46 Stat tilters to Bama Turnovers One pick six by Oklahoma Special teams snafus – muffed punt kick that was blocked by Bama Two missed field goals by Oklahoma Bama made two field goals Bama run pass balance of 50/50 with 29 pass plays and 25 run plays Bama had 5 sacks and 7 TFL Bama won the turnover battle and the special teams battle OK had two drives end with missed FG and one drive end with a pick six for a Bama score Drives OK scored on three of its first four drive to take a 17-0 lead going Drive 1- Punt Drive 2 - TD Drive 3 - FG Drive 4 - TD While Bama goes 3 & out on its first three drives After OK goes up 17-0, Bama has a 9-play drive for 75 yds and a TD. Scores on 4th and 2 play at the OU 10 yd line as Lotzier Brooks makes a great run after the catch to break 3 tackles and score. Key play was a 29 yd shot pass play to Brooks where he was behind the defense, but was underthrown by Simpson and had to come back to catch the ball. That put Bama on the OU 40. And then a 23 yd pass to Cuevas put Bama on the OU 18 yd line. Next OU drive ends with a muffed punt by OU that gets blocked by Tim Keenan and then Bama kicks a FG to cut the lead to 17-10. Two key plays on the OU drive are 3rd and 3 at the OU 47 yd line. Bama blitzes Keon Sabb and Keon has Mateer dead to rights on a sack and Mateer gets out of it and scrambles left and could have easily gotten a first down to keep the drive going. But he sees Xavier Robinson wide open behind the defense and lets it fly. Robinson drops the ball. And thus it is 4th and 3. OU gets a delay of game penalty on 4th and 3 to push it to 4th and 8. And then the punt mishap by the OU punter leads to a blocked punt and Bama FG. On the drive that ends in a FG, Ty Simpson takes a sack on first down to stop the Bama drive and force the 35 yd FG which Talty makes to cut the lead to 17-10. And then on the next OU Drive, on 2rd and 13 on the OU 46, Bama confuses Mateer with a stacked line showing blitz with 8 men on the line. Mateer throws a pick six to Z right to Zabien Brown as he backs out of the line and rolls into the flat on the left side. OU and Bama go into the half tied 17-17. In the 2nd half, Bama comes out and goes 4 plays with 1 first down and has to punt. On third and long, Ryan Williams drops a catchable ball that would have been a first down and Bama has to punt. OU goes 3 and out and has a short bad punt. And Bama is in business on its own 40 yd lone. Bama changed up its defense in the 2nd quarter, and abandoned its four man rush with zone coverage defense which Mateer was slicing up and started blitzing Mateer and bringing pressure while going man coverage with one or two safeties. And Bama ended up getting 5 sacks on Mateer and lots of pressure. On Bama’s 2nd drive- Bama scores in 3 plays as Daniel Hill hits a 30 yd run to take Bama to the OU 30 yd line. Then on 2nd and 10, Simpson hits Brooks on a corner route for 30 yd TD to go up 24-17. OU goes 3 and out again. On 1st and 2nd down, Bama sacks Mateer to put them in 3rd and 22. OU has to punt. Bama gets the ball and goes 40 yds in 9 plays and finishes with a FG to go up 27-17 late in the 3rd quarter. OU responds with an 8 play 75 yd drive to score on 37 yd pass from Mateer to Burks. Bama got caught in a prevent zone defense and Burks got behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties on a crosser and beat them to the endzone. Bama’s soft 4 man rush and zone pass coverage was ineffective against OK.