Alabama came into the game ranked No. 7 in the country, but left Norman embarrassed as the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Crimson Tide, 24-3, Saturday night.
The game was delayed with 28 seconds on the clock, when fans poured onto the field. After security personnel cleared the field, the Sooners quarterback took a knee to run out the clock, and once again the fans rushed the field.
The Sooners won their final home game of the season and their first SEC home win, to become bowl eligible at 6-5 overall, 2-5 SEC.
“We finally got the result we want, and we put it all together,” OU head coach Brent Venables said. “I just want to thank our players, congratulate our players and the staff for a really tough, challenging season. I just appreciate their belief, their leadership, their work, their strain, their competitive spirit, the willingness to continue to come back week in and week out and continue to believe and do the things that we’ve asked them to do.”
OU’s defense was stellar, holding Alabama to only 234 yards on offense. The Crimson Tide dropped to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC.
The Sooners, who used a strong running game in the win, were led by quarterback Jackson Arnold who ran for 131 yards on 25 carries, and he completed 9-of-11 passes for 68 yards. Xavier Robinson carried the ball 18 times for career highs of 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Jackson said this was likely the highlight game of his career, upsetting a top ranked opponent.
“It’s huge,” Arnold said. “I’ll say this would be a signature win in my playing career. You don’t have many like this. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the field rushed again when I play. But it’s special, especially on Senior Night with all the seniors and all the other dudes I look up to.”
While Arnold was having a career day, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, one of the nation’s best players, had his worst game of the season. He completed 11-of-26 passes for 164 yards and threw three interceptions. Milroe gained only seven yards on 15 carries.
Alabama scored the only points in the first quarter when Graham Nicholson kicked a 22-yard field goal.
The Sooners dominated the second quarter winning the possession time by keeping the ball for over eleven minutes. During that time, OU scored on a Zach Schmit 29-yard field goal, and an 18-yard rushing touchdown by Robinson with 37 seconds left in the quarter. OU led 10-3 at halftime. Schmit had missed a 39-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter.
Robinson scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run with 11:37 left in the third quarter. This score was set up by a Eli Bowen interception of a Milroe pass on the third play of the second half.
The interception bug bit Milroe again, as on the Tide’s next possession, OU’s Kip Lewis intercepted a pass and ran it back 49 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners up 24-3 with 8:05 left in the third quarter. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
“Obviously extremely disappointed, frustrated,” said Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. “We worked, I thought, extremely hard all week. Put a plan together, had good energy. Excited to come here on the road. We’ve got to play better. We got to be better in all ways.”
OU will close the regular season at LSU on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.