A couple of weeks ago, after Oklahoma lost at home to Ole Miss and before the Sooners laid the wood to Tennessee in Knoxville, few folks would have given the Crimson and Cream much of a chance playing Alabama on a homecoming weekend in Tuscaloosa.
Two things we do know for certain as we anxiously count down to the Saturday afternoon kickoff between No. 4 Alabama and No. 11 Oklahoma are that Bryant-Denny Stadium will be teaming in crimson, and that one of the two teams sporting that shade of red as their school color will emerge as the winner.
Another observation from Week 12 of the college football season is that, as the week has progressed, the number of experts who closely follow the sport from week to week and have jumped on the Sooner bandwagon ahead of this game has gained some steam. Alabama remains a heavy favorite among the national media, but there are some who are breaking ranks, suggesting that Oklahoma has the right stuff to give Alabama a lot of trouble and even pull off a second straight SEC road upset.
David Pollack, others predict Sooners to upset Crimson Tide
Most Vegas handicappers have Alabama as a 6-point favorite over the Sooners. But just in the last couple of days, college football analysts Joel Klatt of FOX Sports and former ESPN analyst David Pollack have gone on record saying they like Oklahoma's chances of keeping the game close and springing the upset.
"I look at Oklahoma, and I think to myself, 'Well, that's a really bad matchup for Alabama,'" Klatt said on his "Joel Klatt Show" podcast. ...
"What would you do if you were building a team to go and play Alabama? Well, the first thing you would do is you would build a defense that can get after the quarterback. Check. That's exactly what Oklahoma does."
Wednesday on Pollack's "See Ball, Get Ball" podcast, the former Georgia All-American said, for fans who have watched Alabama throughout the season, it has struggled with running quarterbacks.
"And (OU's) John Mateer is probably a better runner right now than he is a thrower," Pollack said. "John Mateer has to tote that puppy (against Alabama)."
Mateer's ability to run the ball as the X-factor in Oklahoma's newfound running game in recent weeks isn't the only factor why Pollack likes the Sooners' chances this weekend.
"The reason I think Boomer Sooner is going to win is because they got the pass rush, man," Pollack said. "They've got the dudes up front with guys that can get to a one-dimensional Alabama offense."
Iain McMillan of Sports Illustrated is also onboard picking Oklahoma to surprise the college football world and keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive by upsetting Alabama for a second straight year.
"This is a matchup between, in my opinion, an underrated Oklahoma team and an overrated Alabama team," MacMillan wrote. "The Sooners rank third in the country in net success rate, while Alabama comes in at 27th. ...
"There's an argument to be made that Oklahoma is the better team."