Oklahoma and Alabama will meet for just the seventh time on Saturday in the storied histories of these two blueblood gridiron giants.
Alabama, currently in the No. 7 spot in the 2024 College Football Playoff rankings, will be making just its second ever visit to Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in what will be just the third regular-season meeting between the two teams.
Except for two postseason bowl games matching the Sooners and the Crimson Tide -- played in 1963 and 1969 in the Orange Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl, respectively -- the past four meetings have all been in the 21st century.
Alabama and legendary head coach Bear Bryant shut out the Bud-Wilkinson-led Sooners 17-0 in the 1963 Orange Bowl, and the two teams fought to a 24-24 tie in the 1969 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston. Since that time, however, Oklahoma owns a 3-1 record against the Crimson Tide, including a stunning 45-31 victory over No. 3 ranked Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl.
Clash of the Crimsons ⚔️https://t.co/Ec3XcvErqQ | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/yG6rQ6LXbJ
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) November 18, 2024
The most recent meeting between these two elite college football programs was in the College Football Playoff national semifinals in 2018. Head coach Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, quarterbacked by Tua Tagovailoa, got the best of Heisman winner Kyler Murray and Oklahoma 45-34 in a game that wasn't really as close as the final score indicated.
Oklahoma and Alabama played a home-and-home regular-season series in 2002 and 2003. The Sooners won both games, 37-27 in Norman in 2002 and 20-13 the following year in Tuscaloosa. Those Alabama teams were not nearly as formidable, though, as the present-day Bama juggernauts.