Oklahoma bests Alabama 23 to 21 in Tuscaloosa

November 15, 2025 – TUSCALOOSA, AL - Number 11 Oklahoma defeated Number 4 Alabama 23–21 preventing Alabama from clinching a spot in the playoffs.

For the second year in a row the Brett Venable's bend but don't break defense met the high flying Kalen DeBoer offense and the OU defense won. Alabama had three turnovers and missed a chip shot 36 yard field goal that ultimately proved too much for the Tide to overcome.

O.U. linebacker Kip Lewis had seven tackles and two sacks of Quarterback Ty Simpson.

Alabama's offense ran up and down the field for 406 yards on the day but failed to turn that offensive production into points. The Alabama defense held Oklahoma to just 212 yards on the day.

Alabama relied heavily on Simpson's passing. Simpson threw for 326 yards passing, 1 and won touchdown; but threw a costly interception that Ethan Bowen ran back for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Simpson also fumbled the ball on a strip sack that gave Oklahoma the ball -setting up the game winning field goal.

Standout Wide Receiver Ryan Williams had 6 catches for 112 yards and on touchdown.

Bama's offense again struggled to run the ball. Alabama had 80 yards rushing; but that was on 33 attempts for a very pedestrian 2.4 yards per carry. Running back Daniel Hill did have two short yardage rushing touchdowns.

Bama's hopes ended on a failed fourth and six play where Simpson underthrew the wide receiver. Oklahoma than ran out the clock.

Coach Kalen DeBoer was disappointed with the outcome.

"Just really disappointed in the outcome," said DeBoer. "We played a lot of great snaps out there, but the turnover battle, obviously, we got killed there and that became the game. We've done a great job of taking care of it. We've done a good job of taking it off of teams, and I think it was probably 17 points coming off of turnovers and a short field at the beginning where they got a field goal on the punt return, so we missed our opportunities for sure, and that's what hurts so much".

Texas A&M – after their thrilling comeback win over South Carolina - is now the only SEC team that is undefeated in conference play. They are 7 and 0 and they still have to play Texas. Georgia affectively ended Texas's postseason aspirations. Georgia is 7 and 1 in the conference. Ole Miss – after knocking off Florida – improves to 6 and 1 in conference. They still have to play Mississippi State. Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and Texas are all 4 and 2 in conference with two games to play.

Alabama plays Northern Illinois next in what should be an out of conference tuneup in Tuscaloosa next. They finish at Auburn (1 and 6 in Conference, 3 and 7 overall) with everything on the line. With a win, Alabama likely goes to the playoffs. A third loss effectively eliminates Alabama from SEC Championship and playoff contention.

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