Rapid Reaction: Alabama outlasts Oklahoma in Orange Bowl to set up Round 4 with Clemson
Ready for Round 4?
College football’s heavyweights, Alabama and Clemson, menacingly took care of the preliminaries Saturday, setting up their fourth consecutive meeting in the College Football Playoff. This will be the third time confetti falls on the winner. They split their first two title game matchups in 2015 and 2016, and Alabama won their semifinal battle last year.
After No. 2 Clemson punched its ticket by pounding No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl semifinal Saturday, No. 1 Alabama held serve against No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl later Saturday night.
The Tide, continuing a season-long theme, pounced from the opening play on their way to a 45-34 victory.
Oklahoma won the toss but deferred. Alabama’s offense defers to few, if any. On its opening play, Tua Tagovailoa faked a handoff and hit DeVonta Smith for a 50-yard strike. Six plays and a critical overturn later, Damien Harris bulled over from the 1-yard line for a 7-0 lead. Harris lost a fumble on the previous play, but replay overturned the call, ruling he was down.
Whatever hope some had that the Sooners could engage in a start-to-finish shootout evaporated on Oklahoma’s first possession, when it became clear that Heisman winner Kyler Murray hadn’t seen a defense like this since he left Texas A&M for the Big 12.
Alabama sacked Murray twice on OU’s opening drive, leading to a punt.
Eight plays — and another critical call — later, the Tide led 14-0. This time the call in dispute was Henry Ruggs’ contested catch from Tagovailoa in the back of the end zone. Ruggs clearly got his foot in, but the ball appeared to move after he landed out of bounds. Replay confirmed it was a touchdown catch.
Unsaid but just as obvious, Alabama confirmed it was headed back to the National Championship Game.
It was the perfect start from the perfect team. And it continued. Tagovailoa’s next throw went for 40 yards to Jerry Judy, a precise dart delivered between two closing defenders. Harris capped that drive with a short run to make it 21-0.
The first quarter wasn’t over. The suspense was.
The Tide scored again the fourth time it touched the ball, this time a special delivery to his home state from Josh Jacobs, who is from Tulsa. Jacobs caught a swing pass from Tagovailoa and turned upfield. He lowered his shoulder and ran over an Oklahoma defender to make it 28-0.
To that point, Alabama had more touchdowns — 4 on 4 possessions — than Oklahoma had first downs. The Tide had outgained the nation’s top offense a staggering 239 yards to 24. Murray was 1-for-5. Tagovailoa, runner-up in the Heisman race, was 9-for-9 for 184 yards and 2 TDs. Yes, the ankle was fine. That left arm even better.
Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit tried to be respectful; more than 43 minutes of playing time remained. But to that point, the game we all wanted — Alabama vs. Clemson IV — was the only one worth discussing.
Credit the Sooners for making it interesting and preventing a blowout.
Murray eventually made plays. Oklahoma eventually found the end zone. Three times they crept within 11, but Bama answered. When Murray hit Charleston Rambo with a 49-yard strike to draw within 31-20, it was the closest the Sooners had been since Alabama’s second possession. Tagovailoa answered that score with his 3rd TD pass, this one to Smith to make the margin 18 again. Murray tossed his 2nd TD pass to make it 38-27, but Tagovailoa responded with his 4th TD pass, a slant to Jeudy to extend the lead to 18 again. Tagovailoa, who threw for 318 yards, finished with more TD passes than incompletions (3).
Back and forth it went in an entertaining second half, the teams combining for 28 points in the fourth quarter alone. The problem was, for the first half, Oklahoma didn’t look like the offense that entered the Orange Bowl as the highest-scoring unit in the country.
Alabama looked every bit like the defending national champion.
Anthem to Gatorade bath with a few hiccups in between, the night belonged to Alabama.
Jan. 7, in what is becoming an annual Playoff date with Clemson, we’ll find out if a sixth national title under Nick Saban will as well.
Yay atleast this was a little more interesting than that other game. Glad we get to see the two best teams in the Championship although I’m not excited about facing Clemson AGAIN!
I don’t know about “not excited.” Can anyone really say that Clemson is able to give Bama a BETTER and HARDER game than Georgia did in the Con Champ? And Tua was hurt after the 4th play of the game. Clemson just played what may be the easiest schedule (including Notre Dame) that they will ever play. This is not a put down on Clemson, but let’s be honest.
OU fought hard and never quit so you have to give them
Credit for that. Number 75 from the OU Oline should have been ejected three times over…..
Boy I said the samething. He was a little bit too into his feelings
I was completely dumbfounded as to how he didn’t even draw a flag when he attacked Williams after that big sack on Kyler in the 4th qtr. The ref was right there and saw it all go down.
They didn’t want to flag him because he already had been flagged once and another would get him ejected….
Great win for Bama
Tua showed once again what he can do with two good ankles. Surtain has to be a concern for Bama. He got beat all night long.
And Jacobs made his home state pay for overlooking him. Great find by Saban and his team.
#2 for Oklahoma had himself a night. Despite Surtain being a freshman, it was surprising to see someone with his talent get worked all night.
Surtain has been great for us this year. He did get beaten by Lamb alot, but Surtain is a true freshman and it should be a good learning experience for him. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that Lamb’s receptions came when the game had already been decided.
Nice to see OU fight back. Great QB battle. You expect Bama to put up points against one of the worst defenses in the country, but Tua did a great job reading RPO’s and picked on 11 all night long. Murray was a bigger threat to Bama than Lawrence will be because of his scrambling ability to extend plays. Good game.
Good point. Last three times we faced Clemson, I was nervous (running QB, blah blah). I don’t feel nervous this time. Here’s why. Clemson, is a VERY good team. But they had the all time easiest schedule this year, and the easier playoff game. They didn’t play a top tier team all year. Trever L. doesn’t present the challenge to Bama that Murray did. I’m in NO WAY overlooking Clemson (that would be ridiculous), but I feel better about this Bama-Tiger game than any of the others.
Frustrating game but Roll Tide!
How was it frustrating? Bama got up 21-0 in the first quarter and was never really threatened.
Another excellent point. If Bama is able to get up like that on Clemson, it’s game over. Doing that, though, is a very tall order. I just think that when Bama doesn’t have to face an elite runner at QB, they don’t seem to struggle. And Saban will NOT let this team have the penalties and loss of focus like they did tonight. Can’t wait for Jan 7.
Well, the good news is that Bama RARELY plays two games in a row the same way. I would be VERY surprised to see the negative issues against Clemson. Plus, they don’t have to fret over Trevor Lawrence’s running abilities (I hope?). And Clemson’s passing game is different from Oklahoma’s, so I don’t see Surtain struggling the same way–Nick will get him help.
Congratulations Tide! Now go take care of business with Clemson.
Officials where horrible.
I believe they were trying to let the teams play and not make a call that changed the game but OU was very chippy and dirty across the oline most of the night.
Not to mention the holding calls that weren’t called too on their line
Congrats to Alabama on a great win. Really need to clean up the dumb penalties, but I am not complaining.
Surprised by Oklahoma’s complete lack of class. They were behind by double digits literally from the first few minutes and the cheap shots, the jawboning, the crap they gave Bama was just amazing for a team that probably should have stayed home in favor of Ohio State or Georgia.
Gary, OU definitely deserved a shot more than Ohio State and Georgia, however the same can’t be said for Notre Dame.
The gumps looked like my cat terrorizing an earwig. Bama let them run a little bit for sport. Did the same thing to A&M. The real game is coming.
Roll Tide! On to Hunter Renfrow… I mean Clemson.
Man it seems like he’s been there for 8 years
Another very important win for the SEC. I hate seeing the Big 12 get to an 11 point margin but a win is a win. Baylor’s win doesn’t mean all that much since they finished so much higher in the Big 12 than Vanderbilt finished in the SEC, in fact that close loss probably makes the SEC look better than tonight’s game does. Oklahoma State took Oklahoma down to the wire 3 weeks ago so, as expected, Missouri has to play their best football and win this game, then win it as big as they can.
So a loss make the SEC look better than a win over the B12 Champ? You’re dumb as $hit…
Oh and Missouri is still garbage.
“So a loss make the SEC look better than a win over the B12 Champ?”
that’s really not what he said at all.
“You’re dumb as $hit…”
said the guy that had no clue what he just read.
So you’re dumb as $hit too I see… He said a close loss makes the SEC look better than tonight’s win….. I’m not sure what you’re thinking he is saying but it was pretty cut and dry…… You can be dumba$$ Missouri fan number two though….
No Bamatime, you still don’t get it at all. No surprise at all either.
It’s in black and white… Missouri fans like to dream up $hit but it’s what he said dumba$$ #2
Also let me point out Baylor was 4-5 in conference while Vandy was 3-5….. Trying to hype up Baylor’s placement isn’t a conference with 10 teams compared to a 14 team conference is $hit only Dumba$$ Missouri fans
Do…
I’m not sure what you are reading Tigurrr, but you are way off base. It’s exactly what he said. Defending Wolfman is a losing proposition.
Fans should defend fellow fans. In the end, it’s Wolf’s opinion. Can you not handle someone’s opinion? Or are you threatened by those who refuse to mindlessly minion your echo chamber dominance rhetoric?
Congrats. It was a good game with only a little drama, but I never felt the outcome was really out of hand after Q-1. That was some great execution.
Saying a loss looks better than a win is stupid even for Missouri fans…
Fans should defend fans? I guess stupid is as stupid does is a thing for you. Being correct is more important than looking stupid defending nonsense.
Maybe Oklahoma should avoid SEC teams in post season play. They should be getting the message by now.
Much respect for what Oklahoma accomplished this season, but OU got within 12 three times and didn’t go for two, and their first onside kick was ill advised. In other words, I think Lincoln Riley has to answer for some very suspect game time decisions.
Great win for Bama, and plenty for Saban to chew some butts over the coming week. I can’t wait for next Monday!
So with a 4th matchup of bama and Clemson, I think all we need is a UCF win over LSU and we’ll have people storming the NCAA castle and demanding an expanded playoff.
Clemson has mindset going into the NC game with a full head of steam bc of the way they handled Notre Dame. PLEASE bring the “A’ we all know and love, do not allow Dabo the used car salesman slip away like the last time in 4th qtr (NC).
Calling Dabo a used car salesmen just sounds like sour grapes. He is easily the second best coach in college football right now.
Coach O calling himself an CEO is a slap in the face of all CEOs.
More proof of ownership.
Dabo is a “debo” — nothing more.
All I can say about Dabo is that I sure wouldn’t mind seeing on the sideline in T-town when Saban retires..