Alabama Prepares for Oklahoma

I'll be honest, I was hoping we'd play Notre Dame cause I'd like to see Bama hang 50 on em.  The top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will face off with the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Dec. 29.

 The Crimson Tide and Sooners will meet for the sixth time in the history of the series that dates back to 1963. The Sooners own the series advantage, 1-3-1, and came away with a 45-31 victory in the most-recent matchup between the teams in the 2014 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

 “They’re (Oklahoma’s offense) a pretty dynamic group,” said Alabama head coach Nick Saban. “They’ve got a lot of weapons. They make a lot of explosive plays. We played against him (Kyler Murray) a little bit when he was at A&M, and he is a very dynamic guy in terms of his athletic ability, his quickness, his ability to make plays with his feet, and he’s turned into a really, really efficient passer, who has good skill guys to make good plays to go along with the rest of their weapons.”

Alabama is making its ninth Capital One Orange Bowl appearance, holding a 4-4 all-time record. Two of the Tide’s national championship teams played in the Orange Bowl with UA’s 1964 championship team falling to Texas, 21-17, on Jan. 1 1965, while the 1965 national champions defeated Nebraska, 39-28, in the Jan. 1, 1966 contest. Alabama also appeared in one BCS National Championship Game in Miami, capturing its 15th national title with a 42-14 win over Notre Dame following the 2012 season.

The winner of the matchup between Alabama and Oklahoma will meet the winner of the contest matching the No. 2 Clemson Tigers and the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who will play in the CFP Semifinal Game at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 29. The 2019 CFP National Championship Game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.