NCAA Football

2025-12-19 - Alabama Crimson Tide at Oklahoma Sooners

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Alabama Crimson Tide @ Oklahoma Sooners
United States : College Football Playoff First Round
Friday 19th December 2025 - Scheduled 8pm
1am (British Time)

Preview

There has been a lot of controversy around some of the selections made for the College Football Playoff this season and the Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3) were one of the big names that people felt have been fortunate to reach the twelve team Playoff.

That was after the blowout loss in the SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs, which meant a third defeat of the season.

Some believe Alabama should have been punished for the manner of the SEC Championship Game defeat, but those involved with the Crimson Tide have made it very clear that reaching the Conference Championship should mean being involved in a game that should not have an impact on the final standings.

No one is going to be really happy about the outcome, but Alabama have to travel to Norman in the First Round and prove they deserve to be amongst the final twelve. Win here and the Crimson Tide will take aim at the Number 1 Seed, although it has been a far from ideal build up towards the First Round after the controversy of the selection and reports linking Head Coach Kalen DeBoer with the suddenly vacant Head Coach role with the Michigan Wolverines.

Denials have been made by DeBoer and the school, but it is not ideal as the Crimson Tide travel to face the Oklahoma Sooners (10-2) in a rematch of a regular season game.

A little over a month ago, Oklahoma Sooners left Tuscaloosa with a victory that virtually secured a spot in the Playoff and the opportunity to host this game. Four straight wins to conclude the regular season will have given the Sooners confidence, although the last couple of performances were far from ideal from an Offensive unit that have not impressed at all.

This is where the challenge is on Friday night to open the College Football Playoffs.

Even in the win over Alabama on the road, the Sooners struggled mightily for any kind of consistency from the Offensive unit and it was big Defensive and Special Teams plays that allowed them to escape with the upset. They were massively outgained in terms of Offensive yardage, although Oklahoma have been a little more convincing overall when playing in Norman.

Like most teams, the Sooners will not shy away from trying to run the ball, but that is going to be a huge challenge for an Offensive Line that were struggling down the stretch and now facing this Alabama Defensive Line.

All of that adds up to the pressure once again being on Quarter Back John Mateer, who did throw for over 2500 passing yards, but also had 12 Touchdown passes and 10 Interceptions.

During this four game winning run, John Mateer has been held to under 175 passing yards three times and the Crimson Tide Secondary have shown up pretty well down the stretch. Big, explosive plays have been produced by the Mateer arm and that is something the Alabama Crimson Tide will have to be aware of, but they held the Quarter Back to 138 passing yards at home and will feel they can make enough plays to give their own Offensive unit an opportunity for redemption.

Ty Simpson has not played well in the last couple of starts for Alabama as he continues to deal with an undisclosed injury, but there has been a couple of weeks of rest since the SEC Championship Game. The Crimson Tide will be hoping that he has had enough time to at least feel better about what he can do on a football field and especially as Alabama will need the Quarter Back being able to throw the ball with confidence.

In the first game in the regular season, Alabama did have issues running the ball and even a returning Jam Miller may not make much of a difference against this strong Sooners Defensive Line.

However, it was Ty Simpson who had given the Crimson Tide a chance having thrown for over 300 passing yards, although the Interception thrown and a Fumble lost were costly parts of the reason Alabama failed to win.

As the season has wound down, there have been holes in this Oklahoma Secondary which can be exploited, although the question will be how healthy Ty Simpson feels?

We cannot really answer that, but this feels like a chance for Alabama to bounce back and earn revenge for the loss in Tuscaloosa to this Oklahoma team.

It should be another close, competitive game, especially with so much on the line.

Alabama should be very motivated to show they belong in the First Round of the Playoff after all of the controversy, although they will be well aware that all four hosts won in this Round twelve months ago.

None of those games were expected to be anything as competitive as this one looks though and the Crimson Tide are backed to find a way in Norman in a hostile environment.

Prediction

Home teams dominated in the First Round, but the Alabama Crimson Tide can reverse that early trend with a victory here and earn revenge for a defeat to Oklahoma in the regular season.