Tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) will face their most difficult opponent of the year when they face the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1 SEC) in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Watch the game on ESPN or live stream it here for free. Sooners fans can hear the action on KOKC 1520, while Tide fans can listen to the game on 92.9 The Game.
Alabama comes into this game as 17.5-point favorites over the Sooners, and for good reason. Their only loss of the year came against an Auburn Tigers team that pulled off a miraculous 109-yard field goal return to launch them into the SEC title game, where they held off the Missouri Tigers.
They knocked a potential distraction out of the way by inking prized head coach to a lucrative extension, that he believes will keep him on the Tide's sideline until he's finished coaching. Prior to signing it, there were loud rumors he was jumping ship to Texas.
"I don't have any more reactions to it. I think it's kind of over so why do we want to talk about that?" Saban said. "We look forward. I'm looking forward. I made a commitment to our players that are here and I'm happy to be committed to them and I want them to make the same kind of commitment to the program and to their future success."
Lingering disappointment about missing out on the title game, though, still looms as a pitfall. "We're fired up playing Oklahoma," defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said. "It's not for a national championship or anything, but we're going to go into it like it is."
Other 'Bama players backed that up. "(Saban told us) we shouldn't let this loss bring us down to the point where we just keep hang-dogging and keep our heads down going into the game and lose (the Sugar Bowl), too," left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio said.
Tonight's Sugar Bowl will be A.J. McCarron's final collegiate game under center for Alabama, while Oklahoma keeps teams guessing as to who their quarterback will be on a weekly basis. Blake Bell and Trevor Knight have both started this year, and head coach Bob Stoops said the call will be a "game-time decision."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.