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Tide's Roll Stopped by Sooner Magic by Justin Waganer Senior Sports Columnist September 9, 2002
When we talked of all the tradition that was colliding on Owen Field last Saturday we were talking of teams that knew historically how to win. In recent history the Sooners have been the team that has found ways to win and on Saturday the Sooners Boomed to a lead, the Tide Rolled back, and Sooner Magic won it, 37-27.
This was a game with enough ups and downs to go down in Tide and Sooner annals as a tremendous knockdown, drag-out brawl. With Oklahoma showing its prowess in the first half, Alabama showing its in the second, and the Sooners coming back in the final stanza. The talk around the country has been of the Oklahoma defensive demise with talk of "overrated" being thrown about. I disagree.
The Oklahoma defense was a hair shy of superb on Saturday giving up just 288 total yards on 80 plays after being on the field for nearly 37 minutes. The 27 points? One field goal comes after an onside kick to open the game where OU gave up 25 yards and Michael Ziifle kicked a 45 yard field goal. The last six possessions of the first half for 'Bama were five three-and-outs and a fumble.
The second half is what people have cited as the defense crumbling with 24 points being scored. However, looking closely we see that the first scoring drive was 66 yards with a fourth down conversion inside the 10 yard line and the second ended in a missed field goal after the second recovered onside of the day with Bama recovering at the OU 43.
The next drive started at the Bama 43 and was successful because of a tipped ball being caught for a 22 yard gain and ending in an unsuccessful fourth down attempt. Next the Tide blocked a punt for a touchdown making the score 23-17. After another partially blocked punt the Tide got the ball at the OU 39 yard line and faced a third and 10, converting after another tipped ball being caught for exactly ten yards. OU stopped Bama again at the three yard line, but a fake field goal got the ball in the end zone.
The final Alabama scoring drive started on the OU 46 yard line and progressed 18 yards before Michael Ziifle hit another 45 yard field goal making the score Bama 27- OU 23. The Tide scoring drives went for 25, 66, 39, and 18 yards not including the blocked punt returned for a touchdown after starting four times in OU territory and six times past their own 40 through the course of the day.
The Oklahoma offense is a different story altogether, with little imagination and even less power rushing the defense was left out to dry in the intense heat. Negative yardage rushing yet again and the loss of Jason White hurt, but don't kid yourself Nate Hybl's play was solid. Hybl completed 16 of 30 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for one touchdown.
With Hybl being the man now expect to see more of a blocking tight end, two-back sets, and less option. The positives being that Hybl can throw the deep ball when given time, Renaldo Works can be a game-breaker, and Mark Clayton is by far the best receiver on the roster.
The Tide realized at half-time that OU lost their mobile quarterback and couldn't rush the ball they sold out on the blitz and drilled Nate Hybl repeatedly. A young Oklahoma offensive line was taught a lesson by a defensive line featuring three Outland Trophy candidates and tremendous linebackers, but in the end OU found something that worked, a shovel pass and a power set that was non-existent until minutes remained on the day.
No the special teams weren't special, but it was more Alabama's success and aggressiveness than anything. The Tide admittedly planned on kicking the onside to start the game days before and OU faltered the second, failing to communicate but the punt coverage was pathetic and must be improved.
Alabama is a very good football team that will make noise in the always tough SEC with their seriously scary mantra, "I don't care." When you here that, all the fakes and trickery aren't such a surprise anymore. Kudos to Dennis Franchione, one of the nation's best on figuring out how to score on Oklahoma, making the defense stay on the field until you succeed.
Rest easy, no one is a national title contender if Miami comes to play and if the book is out on how to beat Oklahoma here it is: recover two onside kicks, convert two of four fourth downs (one inside the 10) catch every tipped ball in sight, block two punts, block a field goal, make OU use two quarterbacks, and hold the ball for approximately 37 minutes. Got that Texas? Wait a minute, it didn't work. "Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower
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