As much as one can feel good about Alabama’s late-season surge, it did come with an unexpected downside — the Tide’s stellar scoring down the stretch elevated ‘Bama to a No. 8 overall finish in the country. And, with the NCAA Championships now being done in a regional format which mirrors baseball (and, to some extent, basketball) that means the Crimson Tide travel to the No. 1 host site.
Unfortunately, that just happens to be the home of the absolute machine known as the Oklahoma Sooners. As good as Florida has been this year — and they’ve been one of the two best in the country all season — it’s hard to believe, but OU is on a different plane of competition entirely.