Chaos swept through college football, and Alabama found itself caught in the turmoil, losing control of its SEC and College Football Playoff hopes.
Katie Windham | 16 Minutes Ago
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) is seen getting up after throwing an interception during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Oklahoma won 24-3.
Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) is seen getting up after throwing an interception during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Oklahoma won 24-3. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY Network
NORMAN, Okla. — Alabama had everything in front of them: control of their destiny for both the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff. But that all vanished amid the chaos of the game as Oklahoma, fresh off two weeks of preparation, decisively beat the Crimson Tide 24-3. Alabama looked like a team that had lost its edge, and with that defeat, their path to the CFP grew much murkier.
Across the college football landscape, chaos was unfolding, which, if Alabama had won, would have solidified their spot in the CFP. Instead, Alabama found itself as part of that very chaos, which made the loss in Norman all the more impactful.
Now, the Crimson Tide faces an unfamiliar and uncomfortable reality. They have no chance of competing for the SEC championship, and their chances for the College Football Playoff are slim. The upcoming Iron Bowl has taken on even greater significance.
Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) now must find a way to refocus and defeat Auburn (5-6, 2-5 SEC), a team with everything to gain — bowl eligibility — but nothing to lose. Kalen DeBoer will have to rally the team in his first season as head coach.
“That’s the commitment we make to each other when we first come in here,” DeBoer said after the game. “When you sign up to play for Alabama, you make that commitment to each other and the brotherhood. There’s nothing in that room right now that there’s anyone saying that it’s someone else that needs to be better. It’s win and lose as a team. We made that commitment also not just for each other, but that we’re going to finish. We’re going to finish everything we do.”
One of Alabama’s core values is “finish,” according to quarterback Jalen Milroe.
“We can control how we fix the mistakes we made in this game and then going on to the next opponent,” Milroe said.
Milroe talked about controlling the controllables, acknowledging that reaching the CFP is no longer in Alabama’s hands. The Crimson Tide will now face an eager Auburn squad that just upset No. 15 Texas A&M.
After Milroe and Alabama’s performance at LSU, it seemed the team had overcome early road struggles. But now, they finish DeBoer’s first SEC road campaign with a 1-3 record.
Mistakes from previous road losses resurfaced in Norman, including third-down inefficiencies, turnovers, and a lack of a running game. Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell said the Crimson Tide needs to take responsibility for the loss and improve for the upcoming Auburn game.
Malachi Moore, one of the few players left who won a national championship as a freshman in 2020, knows what it takes to win titles. However, his final season in Tuscaloosa now likely won’t end with another championship. He can still leave with a perfect record against Auburn.
“I just told the team it’s really going to show us what type of man we are when things aren’t going our way,” Moore said after the game. “And things are kind of out of our control right now. All we can do is play the next game because that’s all we can do. We’ve still gotta play the next game, go out there and create value for our team. Continue to play to our standard.”
Alabama faced a similar scenario in 2022 after losses to Tennessee and LSU. Back then, in the four-team CFP format, their second loss effectively ended their national championship aspirations in the final season of Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr. Both players would go on to be selected as the No. 1 and No.
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