Alabama players respond to loss against Oklahoma: ‘So what? Now what?’
No. 7 Alabama football was expected to beat unranked Oklahoma, but the Crimson Tide fell short.
Oklahoma, with only one SEC win all season and no bowl eligibility before Saturday, defeated Alabama despite the Tide’s mistakes.
The Alabama offense struggled to score a touchdown, while the defense couldn’t stop Oklahoma’s running game when the contest was still competitive. The Tide also committed three turnovers, all through Jalen Milroe interceptions.
As a result, Alabama lost 24-3 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
“There’s no excuse,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “Everybody saw it. We lost, and we’ve got to take it on the chin and keep learning from it.”
Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) allowed 325 yards, including 257 rushing yards and two touchdowns to Oklahoma, which entered the game with the nation’s 90th-ranked scoring offense.
“Our job was to out-execute them, and we fell short tonight,” Campbell added.
Meanwhile, Alabama’s offense managed only 234 total yards—164 passing and 70 rushing—and scored just a field goal. Milroe, who had a strong rushing performance against LSU, was limited to seven yards on 15 carries.
“They had a great game plan for us,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “We just need to execute better.”
Following the loss, Alabama players expressed a desire to move on quickly from the defeat.
“So what? Now what?” Booker said. “We can’t change what happened. We just need to make sure we prepare our tails off moving forward.”
Next up is the Iron Bowl against Auburn at Bryant-Denny Stadium. While Alabama won’t make the SEC Championship, they still have a 31% chance of making the playoffs, according to the Allstate playoff predictor.
“Got a big game next week,” Booker said. “We’ve got to focus all our energy on that. Can’t dwell on this loss. We need to move forward and put everything into next week.”
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