It’s halftime in Norman and the seventh-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide are locked in a real battle with the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma leads the Crimson Tide, 10-3, at the break.
Alabama has struggled in all three phrases of the game, with Jalen Milroe only 2-of-7 passing for 62 yards on two chunk plays — a 32-yard Germie Bernard catch and one that went for 30 yards to freshman Ryan Williams.
Williams’ grab (initially thought to be a touchdown) led to a 22-yard Graham Nicholson field goal that put Alabama on top 3-0 with 3:23 to play in the first quarter.
Early on, the Tide defense yielded two long Sooners drives into Alabama territory that ended with zero points. Afterwards, Oklahoma got on the board with a 29-yard Zach Schmit field goal midway through the second quarter to tie the game at 3-3.
Alabama had five 3rd-and-10 plays in the first half. After James Burnip muffed a punt that went for only 23 yards, Oklahoma took five-plus minutes to drive 67 yards for the lead, capped by an 18-yard Xavier Robinson touchdown with 37 seconds left.
In a huge loss for the Tide, Alabama will be without star linebacker Deontae Lawson for the rest of the night. Lawson left the game with a leg injury with around 12 minutes to play in the second quarter.
At intermission, Oklahoma has more than doubled up Alabama in total yards: 242 to 97. Alabama ran just 23 offensive plays in the first half. The Sooners had the ball for 17:41 to the Tide’s 12:19.
There’s a lot of football still to play, but nothing has gone right for the Crimson Tide so far in Norman.