Alabama captured their fourth straight National Championship berth with a 45-34 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2018 Capital One Orange Bowl.
Josh Jacobs led the Tide in rushing with 98 yards on 15 carries. Tua Tagovailoa went 24-of-27 for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Devonta Smith led the Tide in receiving with 106 yards on 6 receptions and a touchdown.
The Tide started the game off on fire as they racked up 28 unanswered points and hoped out to a 28-0 lead. Kyler Murray and Oklahoma’s offense looked stunned until they got some control of the game and drove the field to get on the board in the second quarter with a running score by Trey Sermon.
Both teams would trade field goals before heading into halftime with the score being 31-10.
Alabama had a scoreless third quarter as the Sooners crept closer with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Charleston Rambo and a 26-yard field goal by Austin Seibert. The Tide created some more breathing room early in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Deonta Smith, which made the score 38-20.
Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners would not roll over as they responded with a scoring drive of their own, which was dominated by CeeDee Lamb and Kyler Murray to make score 38-27. The Sooners attempted an offside kick on the next kickoff, which was recovered by Alabama’s Keaton Anderson.
A touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to Jerry Jeudy seem to sealed things up for the Tide as they led 45-27 with 6:04 left in the game, but the Sooners prove once again they will not give up as Kyler Murray scored on a run to make scored on a run to make score 45-34. After an unsuccessful offside kick, the Tide took the win.
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Justin Smith is a Scouting/Recruiting analyst for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via @Jdsmith31Smith
