No. 8 seed Oklahoma will host No. 9 seed Alabama on Friday, December 19 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN and ABC.
This will mark the Crimson Tide’s ninth appearance in the College Football Playoff, while Oklahoma returns to the CFP for the first time since the 2019–20 season and for the fifth time overall.
Oklahoma leads the series 5-2-1 overall, including a 23-21 win in this year’s SEC meeting. The teams last met in the postseason during the 2018 Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl, where Alabama earned a 4534 victory.
The Sooners are 10-2 overall under fourthyear head coach Brent Venables and finished 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play. OU has won its last four games and is the only team in the country to earn five victories against AP-ranked opponents at the time of competition.
Alabama enters the matchup at 10-3 overall following a 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The Crimson Tide went 7-1 in regular-season conference play and rank 41st nationally in scoring offense (31.2 points per game) and 12th in scoring defense (17.4 ppg).
The winner of the OU-Alabama matchup will face No. 1 seed and Big Ten champion Indiana in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 at 3 p.m. CT in Pasadena, Calif.
