It’s time for the College Football Playoff to begin! The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oklahoma Sooners are meeting up in the Orange Bowl. Here’s what you need to know about this game.
The Oklahoma Sooners struck first in this postseason. Given that Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray won the 2018 Heisman Trophy over Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, it’s fitting that these two teams would get to settle things out on a football field.
Both of these teams have remarkable offenses and it’s actually difficult to give each team enough praise and recognition for what they are able to do when they have the ball. Alabama is scoring 47.9 points per game while Oklahoma is scoring 49.5. Alabama averages 527.6 yards per game while Oklahoma is getting 578.4 yards per game. Alabama gets 7.9 yards per play and Oklahoma gets 8.8.
But while both teams are essentially unstoppable on the offensive side of things, Oklahoma is missing a pretty important part to a championship contender: a solid defense. Alabama’s defense, actually, is as good as it ever has been. Oklahoma’s defense is one of the nation’s worst. The Sooners have constantly needed to overcome their ineffective defense but have been able to thanks to Murray and OU’s offense.
The Sooners allow teams to gain 448.1 yards and give up 32.4 points per game. Alabama, unsurprisingly, holds its foes to under 300 yards of total offense per game and only permits teams to score 14.8 points per game.
How to watch and bet on the Orange Bowl
- Date: Tuesday, Dec. 29
- Start time: 8:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Miami, FL
- Stadium: Hard Rock Stadium
- Spread: Alabama -14
- Channel: ESPN
- Stream: WatchESPN
Prediction: The Crimson Tide is so good on both sides of the ball that it’s ridiculous. They have everything they need to walk away with yet another national championship this season as Nick Saban continues to build upon his dynasty. The Sooners will need a Heisman worthy performance from Kyler Murray to even stay in this game, but even that may not be enough. Alabama should win and it’ll probably end up with a double-digit victory by the time it’s all said and done. Oklahoma’s defense hasn’t done enough all season to make it seem like this game could be closer than that.