Oklahoma travels to Tuscaloosa this weekend in pursuit of a second consecutive ranked road win.
Not only are there SEC title game and College Football Playoff implications on the line, but the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide will want revenge after they lost to the Sooners last year in a game that knocked them entirely out of the CFP picture.
FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt made picks on the biggest games of the weekend, including this one. His initial read was that No. 11 Oklahoma presented a tough matchup for Alabama and potentially had a path to winning the game. However, he’s siding with Alabama to pull off the win at home.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Boy, I really want to take the Sooners in this game.’ And I just can’t. I just can’t,” Klatt said on his podcast this week. “I will take the points, but I cannot, in good conscience, say that Oklahoma is going to go in there with an offense — that we just don’t know if they’re going to be able to score a lot of points — and beat Alabama.
“… Give me Alabama, in a thriller.”
The key is how this Oklahoma defense plays against Alabama. The Sooners can get after the quarterback, and that’s a significant factor for Oklahoma’s chances. That could also help the Sooners because the Crimson Tide have struggled to run the ball consistently, putting even more pressure on quarterback Ty Simpson.
When you flip the sides, Klatt also mentioned that Alabama can not contain mobile quarterbacks well, meaning they could have issues against OU quarterback John Mateer. Those factors favor Oklahoma.
Still, Klatt picked the Tide to win 24-21. That result would see Oklahoma cover the 6-point spread at BetMGM. Kickoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
