A lot has changed in the SEC since Nick Saban’s final season at Alabama, including the Crimson Tide getting a new conference nemesis. In 2024, Kalen DeBoer’s first season at the helm, a 24-3 road loss to Oklahoma undoubtedly kept the Crimson Tide out of the College Football Playoff. This year, a 23-21 loss to the Sooners at Bryant-Denny Stadium cost DeBoer a home game in the first round of the CFP.
Now, the Tide will head to Norman on December 19 to take on none other than Brent Venables’ Oklahoma Sooners. Regardless of how Alabama bounces back from its SEC Championship blowout loss to Georgia, the Tide could use a reprieve from playing the Sooners, and they’ll get it in 2026.