Oklahoma’s fans couldn’t wait to celebrate their team’s surprising win over Alabama.
A large group of excited Oklahoma supporters rushed the field with just 28 seconds remaining. After a reminder that the game wasn’t over yet, they were cleared off. The Sooners took a knee to run down the clock in their impressive 24-3 victory against the seventh-ranked Crimson Tide on Saturday night.
Afterward, thousands of fans came back onto the field and partied for more than 10 minutes while songs like “Jump Around” by House of Pain and “FE!N” by Travis Scott played.
True freshman Xavier Robinson ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns, setting career highs, as Oklahoma became bowl eligible and took coach Brent Venables off the hot seat.
“We finally got the result we want and we put it all together,” Venables said. “I just want to thank our players — congratulate our players and the staff for a really tough, challenging season.
And I just appreciate their belief, their leadership, their work, their strain, their competitive spirit, the willingness to continue to come back week in and week out and continue to believe and do the things that we’ve asked them to do.”
Jackson Arnold ran for 131 yards on 25 carries and completed 9 out of 11 passes for the Sooners (6-5, 2-5 SEC), who won their last home game of the season. It was Oklahoma’s first home SEC win since joining the conference this past summer.
“It’s huge,” Arnold said. “I’ll say this would be a signature win in my playing career. You don’t have many like this. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the field rushed again when I play. But it’s special, especially on Senior Night with all the seniors and all the other dudes I look up to.”
The Sooners dealt a serious blow to Alabama’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff.
“Obviously extremely disappointed, frustrated,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We worked, I thought, extremely hard all week. Put a plan together … Good energy. Excited to come here on the road. We’ve got to play better. We got to be better in all ways.”
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who had been one of the nation’s top players, had his worst game of the season. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 164 yards with three interceptions and gained only seven yards on 15 carries for Alabama (8-3, 4-3, No. 7 CFP). Oklahoma held Alabama to just 234 yards.
Alabama lost linebacker Deontae Lawson to a lower body injury in the second quarter, and he will be evaluated when the team returns home.
Robinson’s 18-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds left in the second quarter put Oklahoma ahead 10-3, a score that held up until halftime. The Sooners outgained the Crimson Tide 242 yards to 97 before the break.
Milroe completed just 2 of 7 passes for 62 yards and ran nine times for minus-2 yards before halftime. Oklahoma outgained Alabama 118 yards to 15 in the second quarter and controlled the ball for more than 11 of the 15 minutes.
Oklahoma’s Eli Bowen intercepted Milroe on the third play of the second half and returned it 25 yards to Alabama’s 14-yard line. Robinson’s 1-yard touchdown run pushed Oklahoma’s lead to 17-3.
On the next possession, Oklahoma linebacker Kip Lewis intercepted Milroe and ran it back 49 yards for a touchdown, making the score 24-3 with 8:05 left in the third quarter.
