There will be no cakewalk this week for Alabama football on the road in a hostile environment against the Oklahoma Sooners. It’s been a difficult transition year for the Sooners in its first year in the SEC, but make no mistake they are a talented team and fully capable of beating Alabama if the Crimson Tide doesn’t play to its standard.
Alabama enters the game at 8-2. On Tuesday, the Crimson Tide moved up to No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings. It is currently projected as the No. 9 seed, facing a first-round matchup with Notre Dame in South Bend.
But Alabama is in great shape to make it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game if it takes care of business against Oklahoma and Auburn to finish the regular season. A win in Atlanta would guarantee the Crimson Tide a first-round playoff bye.
Victory will not come easy for Alabama on the road against Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide has never beaten the Sooners on the road. If it wants to accomplish that feat for the first time, these three things will be key.
3. Get pressure on Jackson Arnold
Oklahoma got an offensive boost a couple of weeks ago with the return of star WR Deion Burks. He played against Missouri two weeks ago, his first game action since the Tennessee game in September. He alone changes the dynamic of Oklahoma’s offense.
Jackson Arnold is a capable QB, though he has had a rough first season as the team’s starting QB. He lost his starting job to Michael Hawkins Jr. for a few weeks but has since earned the job back. He’ll get the starting nod against the Crimson Tide on Saturday night.
Arnold has been sacked 29 times this season. The Sooners’ offensive line has struggled to keep Arnold upright and his lack of mobility hasn’t helped matters.
Kane Wommack has cranked up the aggression in recent weeks in calling defensive plays. I would expect a plethora of pressure packages to try and affect Arnold. If they can get to him and make him uncomfortable, he’s likely to turn the football over in a key situation.
2. Win the turnover margin
Alabama has been one of the best teams in the country in turnover margin. Playing in a tough road environment, it is imperative that trend continues this weekend.
Alabama is the better team here. Alabama knows it. So does Oklahoma. But the quickest way to remove the gap between the two programs is for the Crimson Tide to turn the ball over and breathe life into what has the potential to be a raucous atmosphere in Norman.
If Alabama is a positive in the turnover margin, then it probably walks out of Oklahoma with a two-score victory. If it is a minus, then this game might be closer than the experts think.
1. Run the football and maintain offensive balance
The last time Alabama faced a front-seven this talented, it was in Knoxville against Tennessee. In that game, the Tide’s offense became one-dimensional. Alabama couldn’t run the ball effectively and Jalen Milroe was forced to throw 45 passes.
Alabama managed just 17 points in its most porous offensive output of the season. The Tide turned the corner following that game, striking a better run-pass balance and blowing out Missouri, LSU, and Mercer to get right back in the thick of the SEC race.
The Sooners are third in the country and allows just 2.8 yards per carry. Alabama isn’t likely to find much success with the traditional run game with Jam Miller and Justice Haynes. That means, as usual in any big game, the weight of the world will be on the shoulders of Milroe.
He’ll need to find success running the football and moving the chains to sustain drives. Alabama can’t revert back to its boom or bust offensive style or they could be ripe for an upset on Saturday night.
