You can count on the fact that as sports talk ramps up speculating on the 2019 national championship contenders, the Alabama and Oklahoma football teams will be part of the narrative.
Which nudges us to go one step further: What if…? How about a Playoff Crimson Collision Part II?
The Sooners and the Crimson Tide have only met on the gridiron a total of six times in well over a century of college football history for both teams, but between them they have collected 19 national championship trophies (12 for Alabama, eight for OU) in the Associated Press Poll era (since 1936).
Although Oklahoma made four appearances and Alabama three in the BCS National Championship Game, the two schools never played for the championship in the same year. Similarly, the Crimson Tide has appeared in all five College Football Playoff seasons (2014-18), and the Sooners have made appearances in three of the five Playoffs, but it wasn’t until last season that the two teams met head to head.
The Crimson Tide scored the first 28 points against Oklahoma in one of the CFP national semifinal games last season and held off a second-half Sooner rally for a 45-34 victory.
Oklahoma holds a 3-2-1 advantage in the all-time series with Alabama, and the Sooners are 3-1 against the Tide since 2000. All but two of the six meetings have been in postseason games.
According to the most recent Las Vegas sportsbook odds, the Sooners are given the sixth-best chance to make the College Football Playoff this season (behind Alabama and Clemson, both at 9/4 odds, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State — more or less the usual suspects). That shouldn’t be too troubling to Sooner fans. That relatively close to what the situation has been at this point the past two years, and Oklahoma has made the four-team Playoff mix both years.
Lincoln Riley and the Sooners would like nothing more than a 2019 Playoff rematch against Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide, preferably in the national championship game. Oklahoma is 1-2 against Saban, having beaten then-No. 3 Alabama 45-31 in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, but losing in the national semifinals last season and to a Saban-coached LSU team in the 2003 BCS National Championship.
Although a lot of things can happen in the 12 to 14 games to be played between now and then, it is not that far fetched that Oklahoma and Alabama could go toe to toe again in Phoenix or Atlanta in a national semifinal showdown on Dec. 28 or, better yet, in the Superdome in New Orleans on Jan. 13 for the national championship.
Any one of those outcomes would carry with it a highly intriguing story line: Quarterback Jalen Hurts making his fourth consecutive College Football Playoff championship appearance and going against his former team. You better believe that crossed Hurts’ mind when he chose to transfer to Oklahoma for his final season of eligibility. Wouldn’t that be something to witness?
The Sooners have the offensive talent to compete with Alabama. At Big 12 Media Days in Dallas on Monday, Riley told reporters:
"“We don’t plan on the offense dipping (in the 2019 season), (and) we definitely expect our defense to be better. I don’t think there is any doubt.“That’s why we have recruited as hard as we have. That’s why we made the changes on the coaching staff (hiring new defensive coordinator Alex Grinch).”"
If Riley’s expectations pan out for this season, the Sooners could easily go 11-1, or even a perfect 12-0 in the regular season, win the Big 12 for a fifth straight time and put themselves in prime position for a third consecutive appearance in the College Football Playoff.
Then it becomes a new season. And once you’re there, anything is possible.
Dare to dream. Why not?