On Saturday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide struggled in multiple different areas against the Oklahoma Sooners.
Falling 24-3, the Crimson Tide did not get much going on offense and struggled to stop the run. The Sooners rushed for 257 yards compared to Alabama’s 70.
A big reason for Oklahoma’s win was the Sooners winning battles along the line of scrimmage, a takeaway noted by coach Brent Venables.
Venables commented on this during his postgame press conference as well: The Oklahoma coach said the Sooners “knocked Alabama out” on Saturday night.
“You want to have a foundation of something that defines you, that is an identity, and it’s about being physical,” Venables said. “You want to play with relentless effort. They turn the tape on, what’s the evidence going to say? Tonight, when this game’s over, what’s the evidence going to say? When you flick the film on, what’s it going to say? How’s it going to read? This is my vision, that Oklahoma was absolutely relentless in all three phases, and they knocked Alabama out. They had an answer for them every step of the way, every corner that they turned, and without a doubt, Oklahoma was the most physical football team tonight. That was the vision, and that’s what we wanted the tape to say. Not sitting here beating our chest, but I’d be remissed if I didn’t recognize a physically dominant performance.”
The full postgame press conference from Venables after the Alabama game can be found below:
https://www.youtube.com/live/OhfjZpQFuP8?si=7YS9CfPE2LLVJbbj