OU-Alabama Was Awful Football From Two Teams That Aren't Playoff Caliber

During the 2024-2025 edition of the College Football Playoff, discussion immediately centered on the supposed low quality of play in the opening game. 

The No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat the No. 10 Indiana Hoosiers 27-17 in South Bend, though the Irish did outplay the Hoosiers for much of the game. During the game and in the aftermath, the ESPN announcing crew and commentary class went ballistic, saying that Indiana had no business in the playoff over mediocre 9-3 SEC teams like Ole Miss and South Carolina. The sole topic of conversation was that the playoff should be about getting the "best" teams in to ensure a high-level of play between quality opponents. Even SEC coaches chimed in, ignoring that their team's resume and performances did not deserve a playoff berth.

RELATED: Lane Kiffin Mocks Indiana For Pathetic Performance Against Notre Dame

Never mind that Notre Dame was an exceptional  team in 2024 that wound up getting to the National Championship game and dominated SEC Champion Georgia. Indiana didn't belong because they didn't deliver a clean, high-level performance in the playoff. Well, hopefully ESPN was watching the first game of the 2025-2026 playoff between the Oklahoma Sooners and Alabama Crimson Tide because my goodness was it tough to watch.

And it demonstrated clearly two obvious realities: that neither team was playoff caliber, despite their conference jersey patch, and that the playoff has been so diminished by the expanded field that the quality of play in the early rounds will always be disappointing.

Oklahoma's John Mateer (10) reacts following the College Football Playoff game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma on Dec. 19, 2025. (© SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Oklahoma-Alabama A Comedy Of Errors

Alabama did not deserve to reach the playoff in the first place, only getting in because of a concerted lobbying effort by ESPN and their SEC partners. They were 2-2 in their last four games entering the playoff, were dominated by the Auburn Tigers in a game they had no business winning, then were humiliated by Georgia in the SEC Exhibition Championship Game. That's exactly the team they looked like against Oklahoma, even after winning the game.

Well, Alabama didn't so much win it as Oklahoma forcefully lost it. James Madison fan accounts were roasting the Oklahoma effort, particularly the punter just…dropping a ball instead of kicking it. 

OU quarterback John Mateer was awful, frequently missing wide open receivers with inexplicably poor mechanics. Mateer looked exactly like a quarterback who'd thrown four total touchdowns and four interceptions in his last four combined games. Even when he was on target, his receivers frequently dropped passes. As happened on the play prior to the dropped punt, when Mateer delivered a rare, accurate pass on 3rd and 3, only to see it clang off his receiver's hands. Again, this isn't surprising given how Oklahoma had actually played throughout the season. The Sooners had the 49th best offense in the country, per ESPN's SP+ advanced ranking system. Significantly worse than powerhouse teams like East Carolina, Old Dominion and UConn. They looked that bad on Friday night. And were the better offensive team between the two.

Quarterback Ty Simpson took the opportunity after the game to act as though the Tide were doubted, saying "Y'all kind of wrote us off. Appreciate that."

Nobody doubted Alabama could win. It's sports, anything can happen in the small sample size of one game. The "better" team doesn't always win. They doubted, rightly, whether they should have had the opportunity to play in the game in the first place. And the Tide demonstrated conclusively that the answer was no. 

Yes, the Tide won. They also gained 260 total yards on offense. They averaged 1.1 yards per rush. That's not a misprint. They had 1.1 yards per rush, racking up 28 total yards on 25 attempts. Oklahoma was much better, racking up 1.7 yards per carry and 55 total rushing yards. Alabama had four first downs in the first half, yet were tied 17-17 because the Sooners kept demanding to keep them in the game with jaw-dropping mistakes. This is high level football. It just means more.

In their last three games, the Tide have averaged 4.12 yards per play. Their highest yardage total in their last three games is 280. The highest yardage total. This is the offense Simpson described as the best in the country. They are not the best offense in the country. They might not even be in the top 50 right now. 

As X account "SharpeWit" posted, it was an "atrocious football game in every phase." 

Football analyst Rodger Sherman also added on X, "I haven’t seen Alabama come out flat like this since THE LAST GAME THEY PLAYED WHICH FOR SOME REASON THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF COMMITTEE PRETENDED DID NOT HAPPEN." 

For the record, "SharpeWit" was right; ESPN's College GameDay did praise it as a masterpiece. Somehow, a miserable, ugly, poorly played slog received no criticism, while the Indiana-Notre Dame game required an entire rethink of the playoff field and selection process. OU-Alabama should do the same. Stop acting like simply playing in the SEC means you deserve to be included. Stop acting like simply making the SEC Championship game is some awe-inspiring accomplishment. Stop ignoring the results when it's convenient. Stop ignoring the underlying data, which confirmed weeks prior that both teams weren't close to the level of the top 4-5. 

As a better blended ranking system, vastly superior to the ridiculous selection committee, would have shown, neither Alabama nor Oklahoma had a slam dunk case to get into the playoff at all. 

That's exactly how they looked.