What was Alabama football’s approach on final drive against Oklahoma

Photo By Cedric Mason - Touchdown Alabama

Alabama’s final drive of the Oklahoma game ruffled a few feathers in the Alabama fanbase and in the media as the Crimson Tide started with 7:06 on the play clock, and the offense “ran out of downs” according to offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

On Monday, Grubb talked about the approach on the final drive that started 94 yards away from the endzone.

“The plan was to score,” Grubb said. “Seven minutes. Two timeouts. Plenty of time. And even the end of the game, I know there was maybe some people wondering about that, but there was still a 1:30 plus left. We just ran out of downs. One timeout left, and we really had to go 50 something yards or so, somewhere in there that we had to get down the field and score, and for us, we didn’t feel like that was an issue at all. We do that all the time, so we’re just trying to make sure we stay on the field. That was the biggest part, and ultimately, that was the problem. We didn’t convert. We ended up having a sack that put us behind the sticks, which really made things complicated there at the end. So, just trying to keep the ball moving forward against a defense that was pretty good at putting you in negative yardage situations. So, I just didn’t want the ball to go backwards at any point and then sit up the shot plays which I thought we had a good opportunity at a couple at the end, and we just obviously didn’t connect.”

The drive was already going to be a difficult one as the Crimson Tide were tasked with starting from their own 6-yard line, but like Grubb said, it was not an issue because the unit has been in those situations before. The main issue was the sack that lost 11 yards on first down.

That drive ran over six minutes off the clock, and Alabama gave the football back to Oklahoma with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter after a failed fourth-down attempt. The Crimson Tide had only one timeout left, so not having three timeouts in the pocket allowed the Sooners to kneel the clock out and secure a win on Saban-Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.