Experience told Oklahoma fans exactly when the playoff collapse vs Alabama began

It's like Oklahoma fans keep having the same bad dream over and over again.

The No. 8 Sooners on Friday night yet again squandered a 17-point lead in a playoff game, this time to No. 9 Alabama to lose 34-24 in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The only other team to give up such a cushion in a playoff game was also OU against Georgia in a semifinal game in the 2018 Rose Bowl, and just like that nightmare, Friday night also had a play just before halftime that seemed like a minor disappointment at the time but somehow led to the Sooners' downfall.

Xavier Robinson's dropped pass reminds OU fans of squib kick vs Georgia in Rose Bowl

With the offense rolling and the Sooners up 17-7 with 4:29 left after Bama finally put points on the board, OU quarterback John Mateer flashed what he was during the first four weeks of the season when he was a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. With all kinds of pressure bearing down, Mateer escaped a sack before rolling out to his left. The Houdini act gave running back Xavier Robinson time to get wide open deep down the field.

Despite having enough green in front of him to convert a third down into a first using his legs, Mateer heaved the deep pass (which OU fans have been calling for more of) and the strike hit Robinson in stride, but he dropped the potential touchdown. Fans argued if Mateer should have just ran the ball to move the chains instead of try for the dagger, but after the game, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle agreed with Mateer's decision.

"I'm not mad with the decision John made," Arbuckle said. "He saw a wide open man downfield and delivered a really good ball."

It was an obvious missed opportunity, but on the next play, punter Grayson Miller dropped a perfect snap and wasn't able to get it off before Bama took over on OU's 30-yard line and ultimately got a field goal to get within one score. Then, on the Sooners' next possession, Mateer threw an easy pick-6 that tied the game with just 1:26 before halftime. The rest is now history as the Sooners let another playoff win escape as everything seemed to unravel immediately after that dropped deep ball.

The overlooked play was eventually magnified as OU fans had flashbacks to the infamous squib kick the last time the Sooners gave up a 17-point lead in a playoff game against Georgia. After scoring a touchdown to go up 31-14 with a mere six seconds left before halftime, OU head coach Lincoln Riley elected to squib the kickoff to kill more time, but the ball hit a Georgia player and the Bulldogs took over on OU's 47.

After a quick pass, Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship nailed a Rose Bowl record 55-yard field goal to cut it to a two-possession game at the half. And just like eight years later, the subtle mishap turned into catastrophe that OU fans had to suffer through.

That drop could forever haunt Sooner Nation just like the squib kick.