Takeaways from a Sooner stampede and shocking 24-3 upset of now non-Playoff-bound Alabama

The Oklahoma defense intercepted Alabama three times, returning one for a touchdown, and held the No. 7 Crimson Tide to its fewest points in 20 years as the Sooners shocked the college football world with a 24-3 upset victory over the heavily favored Crimson Tide.

The win was Oklahoma's sixth of the season along with five losses and made the Sooners bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive season. The loss was Alabama's third of the season and worse left the Crimson Tide with an 8-3 overall record, which most likely eliminates them from College Football Playoff consideration.

Sooner fans, who were desperate to see the 2024 edition of their beloved football team put together a complete game and keep the nation's second-best active postseason bowl streak going, packed Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to the maximum for the 159th straight game and stormed the field as the game clock ticked down the final seconds of easily OU's best performance of the season.

Storming the field is not something that is characteristic of Sooner home victories, even wins over ranked teams, because Oklahoma football fans are conditioned to their team not losing at home. In fact, the Sooners have lost at home

The much-improved Oklahoma defense was on full display at the Palace on the Prairie on this penultimate weekend in the college football regular season and a season the Sooners and their faithful will be happy to put behind them. But on this day, it was all Oklahoma on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

The Sooner defense has been stellar all season, but on Saturday night, it showed up in a big way, swarming to the ball all over the field and limiting one of the country's best offensive teams to just 234 total yards, well below Alabama's 438 yards-per-game average.

The last time Alabama scored as few as three points in a game was 2004, and the last time the Crimson Tide failed to score a touchdown was 2011. One more impressive statistic from this game was Oklahoma's margin of victory. The 21-point loss was the worst by a ranked Alabama team against an unranked opponent in Alabama football history.

Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5) closes out the 2024 regular season next Saturday at LSU (74, 4-3).

Five takeaways from Oklahoma's biggest win of the 2024 season

• All season long Brent Venables has emphasized the importance of playing error-free complementary football on offense, defense and special teams. The Sooners have not been able to do that, especially against SEC opponents, until Saturday night and against one of the SEC's best teams. While OU was not error-free (a first-quarter fumble by RB Taylor Tatum led to an Alabama field goal and the Crimson Tide's only points of the game), the Sooners dominated on offense, grinding out 257 yards on the ground on 50 run plays and converting 3 of 4 trips inside the red zone and, on defense, picking off veteran Alabama QB Jalen Milroe three times, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Even with an intentional one-dimensional offensive game plan by Oklahoma, Alabama was unable to stop the OU rushing attack

• At a game at which Oklahoma celebrated and honored its seniors, it was a group of freshmen, both of the true and redshirt variety who stole the show. True freshman Xavier Robinson, who began the season as the 4th or 5th running back on the Sooners' depth chart, ran for a season-best 108 yards and two touchdowns. True freshman CB Eli Bowen recorded his first career interception on a play in the third quarter that led to a touchdown by Robinson and stretched Oklahoma's lead to 14-3. And redshirt freshman QB Jackson Arnold played error-free football and directed an OU offensive attack that kept the Alabama defense on its heels the entire game.

• This has not been former five-star prospect Jackson Arnold's finest season of football. But against Alabama, the former five-star prospect showed everyone his dual-threat opportunity and more of what OU was expecting when they recruited him. It was Arnold's legs that were a huge difference in the game. He ran for a game, season and career-high 131 yards and an average of 5.2 yards per rush. It was his first 100-yard rushing game and tied Jalen Hurts for the sixth most by an Oklahoma quarterback since the 2000 season. Arnold attempted just 11 passes in the game and completed nine of them for 68 yards.

• In addition to Senior Night, Oklahoma honored former head coach Bob Stoops during the game as part of the season-long celebration recognizing the 100th year of what is now Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Stoops is the winningest head coach in term of wins in OU football history. It is also interesting and memorable that the last time Oklahoma students and fans stormed the field after a game was in 2000, Stoops' second season as head coach, when the Sooners beat No. 1 Nebraska 31-14 and replaced the Cornhuskers as the nation's top-ranked team on the way to a perfect 13-0 season and the national championship.

• A patchwork offensive line has been one of OU's biggest issues all season, but you would not have known it against Alabama. This much-maligned group was exemplary all night, opening holes for the run game to thrive (5.1 yards rush on 50 carries) and allowing just one quarterback sack (after giving up an average of nearly seven per game against the last three SEC opponents).