Following yesterday's 23-21 win vs. Alabama on the road in Tuscaloosa, Oklahoma has leapt back into the top 10 of the AP's latest poll. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide took a tumble.
Going into their Week 12 matchup, Oklahoma and Alabama were ranked (in both the AP poll and College Football Playoff rankings) 11th and fourth, respectively, and coming out of it, the Sooners have moved up to eighth, and the Tide slid to 10th in today's AP poll.
Oklahoma had been out of the top 10 since Oct. 12, when they fell from sixth to 14th following a 23-6 loss to archrival Texas the previous day. After a bounce-back vs. South Carolina, OU fell further with a home loss to Ole Miss.
As for Alabama, it had been on a steady climb through the rankings since a Week 1 loss to Florida State caused the Tide to fall from eighth to 21st. With a road win over Georgia on Sept. 27, Alabama rose from 17th to 10th before jumping up two spots for each of the next three weeks while continuing to rack up SEC wins.
However, the Tide's eight-game win streak came to a screeching halt Saturday, when they turned the ball over three times and were stunned by an Oklahoma team they nearly doubled in total yards. After falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter, Alabama made it back into the game and entered halftime down 17-14. In the second half, though, the Tide could only muster seven points, none of which came in the fourth quarter, as Oklahoma put Alabama's SEC title hopes in jeopardy.
While Alabama may very well be competing for the conference championship game in Atlanta in a few weeks, the loss certainly complicates the Tide's path to it, as well as the one to the College Football Playoff, even though they should still be among the 12 teams to qualify for the CFP if they win each of their next two games vs. FCS Eastern Illinois and rival Auburn.
For Oklahoma, the win puts it on a path to make its first CFP appearance in six years, provided the Sooners beat Missouri and LSU at home to finish the season.
