TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After No. 11 Oklahoma’s momentous 23–21 win over No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, the Sooners lingered beyond the courtesy handshakes, strolling the full 120 yards of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
After soaking up the atmosphere and taking photos with everyone in an Oklahoma shirt, they eventually made their way to the visitors’ locker room where it was time for the real party to get started nearly a half-hour after kneeling out the victory. On came “Dixieland Delight” over the sound system followed by “Sweet Home Alabama,” leading to the Sooners players stomping and singing so loud they could be heard hitting every high note.
The only thing lacking from such a joyous celebration? That would be the S-E-C chant that is typically ubiquitous at such conference games.
Perhaps Oklahoma felt it was unneeded, but conference officials were likely screaming it an hour down the road in Birmingham at the league’s offices. Because the latest Top 5 upset to significantly shake up the College Football Playoff picture ensured more of those chants in December.
Yes, the SEC is going to get five bids to the playoff, and there’s not much you can do about it now.
“In this conference, they represented themselves in an incredible way,” said an exhausted Sooners coach Brent Venables, who came into the season on the hot seat but could finish with a home playoff game.
Sure, the Big Ten may still reign supreme with back-to-back golden trophies the last two years. When it comes to this season, their budding conference nemesis will have more bites at the apple.
It’s not even absurd to think the SEC could make up half of the field depending on how the results in the next two weeks go. That could add to Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and, now, Oklahoma in the bracket.
“It’s why, whenever Coach Venables called me and offered me the job, [playing in the SEC] was one of those things that really piqued my interest,” said offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who arrived alongside quarterback John Mateer from Washington State in the spring. “Because if you want to be the best, you’ve got to play against the best every single week.”
That was apparent as the Sooners and the Tide traded blows in front of 100,077 swaying fans who witnessed a game that had a little bit of everything in all three phases.
There were dazzling displays of athleticism, such as when Mateer carried a slew of Tide defenders literally on his back for several yards and into the end zone to cap off a long red zone scramble that put the Sooners up 17–7 in the second quarter or Isaiah Sategna III’s 42-yard punt return that set up another short field.
There were a number of offensive highlights, including Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas notching 64 of his game-high 80 receiving yards (plus a score) after the catch and teammate Lotzeir Brooks converting a fourth down with 2:08 to play by running a reverse to keep hope alive that Alabama could add to its 17-game home winning streak.
And was there ever defense being played, hard hitting that limited both ground games to under three yards a carry and pressure-inducing pass rushes. Oklahoma safety Eli Bowen weaved his way to an 87-yard pick-six off quarterback Ty Simpson, who had just one interception coming into the game.
“There’s not a more important stat in football than turnovers. We said that was going to be the one that showed up on the stat sheet as the one that’s going to matter,” Venables said. “Then the eye test from a physicality standpoint. You know, the winner is going to be the most physical team and everybody that watched the game, there should be no doubt.”
The selection committee previously had Alabama as one of the four teams positioned for a first-round bye to the quarterfinals and Oklahoma as the first at-large team out of the playoff.
The Tide, given their lofty standing in last Tuesday’s rankings, likely will not fall too far even if they wind up going from a potential Orange Bowl berth to playing on the road in the first round. They still have one of the best wins in the country at No. 5 Georgia, beat No. 14 Vanderbilt (another potential 10–2 SEC team in the playoff field) convincingly, and have also topped Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina and LSU. The Florida State loss remains a glaring strike, but that game also underscores the only reason this Alabama team tends to lose nowadays. It was the fifth time under Kalen DeBoer that the Tide coughed up the ball three or more times in the last two seasons directly resulting in three of his six losses.
As for the Sooners, they should be in the bracket after delivering their highest-ranked road win since 2017 despite recording just 212 total yards of offense—their fewest in a win since ’01. Their résumé also includes a marquee nonconference victory over Michigan and their lone home loss by one score to Mississippi. If they finish the regular season 10–2 with one of those losses to Texas when Mateer was just days removed from surgery on a broken hand, they are in the field over whatever other two-loss teams emerge from the other power conferences.
“I actually watched Gladiator for the first time [a few weeks ago]. Awesome movie. We showed clips about how he just will not die. And you know, it’s a movie, but I mean, he’s getting pretty close,” Mateer said. “We know what we’re up against and what the stakes are if we do lose. So, we’re trying to survive.”
To borrow the basketball term, survive and advance isn’t a bad way of looking at life in the SEC as everybody seems to be chasing a playoff bid nowadays.
It’s a league that just means more, as they remind you quite often, and it seems like that is certainly a trend that is going to show up when it comes to the number of bids that are handed out on Selection Sunday.
The good news, at least for some, is that there will be plenty of time to celebrate that fact next month and fire up the S-E-C chants in earnest.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as After Oklahoma’s Upset of Alabama, the SEC’s CFP Takeover Looks Inevitable.
