Ahead by 17 points is apparently the worst position for an Oklahoma football team to be in a College Football Playoff game.
Thriving from an electric atmosphere at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the No. 8 Sooners on Friday night jumped to an early 17-0 lead over No. 9 Alabama in the first round of the CFP. The cushion seemed insurmountable considering only one team before had ever blown a 17-point lead in a playoff game, and the Sooners are still the only ones to ever squander such a lead.
By halftime, Alabama had tied it back up 17-17, and in the end, the Crimson Tide fully overcame the deficit to win 34-24 and advance to the quarterfinals to play No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
Sooners blow 17-point lead to Crimson Tide in College Football Playoff
The Sooners once led the Georgia Bulldogs 31-14 in the second quarter of a semifinal playoff game in the 2018 Rose Bowl. OU had a defense problem then and the Bulldogs couldn't be stopped before getting the game to double overtime and winning 54-48. It was the largest lead ever blown in a College Football Playoff game until the Sooners matched it again on Friday night.
Alabama finally budged midway through the second quarter and freshman wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks forced his way into the end zone on a 10-yard reception. A field goal then made it a one-possession game, but OU quarterback John Mateer's pick-6 to Zabien Brown tied the game with 1:18 left in the half and prompted flashbacks for OU fans who had seen this before.
The Crimson Tide eventually scored 27 unanswered points to take a 27-17 lead, and the 10-point deficit was too much for the "Hard to Kill" Sooners to overcome.
With the loss, OU also remains the only program to make at least four CFP appearances without notching a win.
In 2025, it seemed like everything had changed in Oklahoma since that era of football under Lincoln Riley that let a semifinal win and many others slip away because of poor defense. Now with one of the best defenses in the country, the Sooners' offense stalled and the special teams had abnormal errors to give OU a different story with the same tragic ending.