Turnovers doom Tide in loss to Oklahoma
The Tide have their 17-game home win streak snapped against Sooners.
By: Dave in Tuscaloosa
It was a revenge game. It was a game in which the Tide would essentially clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff…and it was homecoming in Tuscaloosa, but in the end, the day belonged to the Sooners.
In a true head-scratcher, fourth-ranked Alabama did things it had not done since the opening day loss at Florida State, including coughing up the ball three times, which resulted in 17 Oklahoma points, and the 11th-ranked Sooners escaped Bryant-Denny Stadium with a huge 23-21 win.
The upset snapped Bama’s nation-leading 17-game home win streak and handed Kalen DeBoer his first home loss as the skipper of the Tide. Moreover, the loss created a must-win situation for Alabama in two weeks in the Iron Bowl at Auburn. With the loss, Alabama dropped to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in SEC play.
On Saturday, Alabama seemed to be playing catch-up the entire afternoon. Oklahoma came out on fire and maintained the intensity of a desperate team throughout the contest, as a loss would have certainly eliminated the Sooners from playoff contention. The Alabama offense had its moments against the vaunted Sooner D, however, despite being nearly doubled up in total yards (406 to 212) the Sooners made the plays they needed to make to win the game.
Leading into Saturday’s contest, Alabama was fourth in the nation with a plus-ten turnover ratio, yet sloppy play resulted in Bama losing three turnovers on the day. The Bama defense did well overall, as 17 of the 23 Sooner points came as a result of shortened fields due to the turnovers. Yet, the Tide stop troops failed to cause a single Oklahoma turnover, and the secondary, which has played well as of late, did not make key plays when the Sooners put the ball in the air. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (15/23 for 138 yards) did enough to get the win, threading the ball nicely through the seams of the Tide’s zone coverage, and he scored one of Oklahoma’s two touchdowns on a nifty keeper from 20 yards out in the second quarter to give Oklahoma a 17-7 lead.
His counterpart, Bama quarterback Ty Simpson, threw for 326 yards on a 28/42 day, yet several critical errors plagued the junior quarterback. With Alabama driving, an ill-advised first-quarter pass was picked off by Sooner corner Eli Bowen and returned 87 yards for a pick-six. With the Tide holding onto a 21-20 lead late in the third quarter, Simpson was sacked and coughed up the ball deep in Tide territory, which would result in the eventual game-winning Sooner field goal early in the fourth.
The other Bama turnover came because of Ryan Williams fumbling on a punt return at the Tide 30-yard line in the second quarter. Two plays later, Mateer would score his touchdown. Special teams were an issue for Bama on Saturday, as placekicker Conor Talty badly missed a 36-yard field goal on the last play of the first half that would have evened the contest at 17. The Bama run game looked a little better, and sophomore tailback Daniel Hill took the bulk of the carries, gaining 60 yards and earning two touchdowns on 15 carries.
However, the Tide could only muster 80 total yards on the ground. Oklahoma showed how to expose the Tide offense…limit rushing yards, force turnovers, and force Ty Simpson to win the game with his arm. Up until the Oklahoma game, Simpson had been able to win the close games this season, but if he is a bit off as he has been now for two weeks straight, Alabama is extremely beatable. One bright spot for Alabama continues to be tight end Josh Cuevas, who hauled in six passes for 80 yards and a touchdown on Saturday.
After the game, Tide players and coaches talked about the disappointment felt after such a poor performance and vowed to get back to work, knowing the last two games of the regular season will determine their postseason fate.
Eastern Illinois visits Tuscaloosa next Saturday for Senior Day before the Tide heads to the Plains to take on Auburn in two weeks. The Tigers currently sit at 4-6 and host Mercer on Saturday, and with the expected win, the result of the Iron Bowl will determine whether Auburn goes bowling or not. That game feels a little like the 2013 Iron Bowl, when the undefeated and top-ranked Crimson Tide squad needed a win to clinch a spot in the SEC title game, and a trip to the BCS national championship game seemed imminent.
This was the famous “Kick-Six” game that prevented the Tide from playing for a third straight national championship. Instead, the Tiger victory earned Auburn a trip to the SEC Championship game (where they would rout Missouri), and they went on to play Florida State in the National Championship game, which was won in the last minute by the Seminoles.
The stakes are different, but because the Tide failed to take care of business against Oklahoma, the necessity of victory for both sides looms large.
