Christmas in Miami.
Due to the earliest semifinal date in the five-year history of the College Football Playoff, both Alabama and Oklahoma will be practicing today on Christmas in preparation for Saturday night’s showdown in the Orange Bowl. The Crimson Tide met in Tuscaloosa early Monday morning and flew down to Miami; Oklahoma arrived in the Sunshine State on Sunday evening.
“It’s a little bit unusual for us to have to travel today on Christmas Eve,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said Monday afternoon during a news conference after his team arrived in Miami. “We just moved up Christmas a little bit and watched the grandkids open presents. Our players got to go home for a few days, but we are here now and ready to get refocused on having the opportunity to play in a playoff game against an outstanding Oklahoma team that presents a lot of challenges.”
The Orange Bowl will pit the nation’s top two scoring offenses, with the No. 4 Sooners (12-1) averaging 49.5 points per game and the No. 1 Crimson Tide (13-0) averaging 47.9.
This will be the earliest postseason game for Alabama since the 2006 Independence Bowl, when interim coach Joe Kines vocalized the importance of stopping Oklahoma State’s “inside trap” in a memorable and amusing halftime interview on ESPN. Kines was replacing Mike Shula in that bowl, which was held on Dec. 28, and Saban was several days away from being hired to turn around a program that had fallen behind LSU, Auburn and even Arkansas to a lesser degree in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division.
Despite the earlier semifinal date, the Orange Bowl will be the first game for Alabama and Oklahoma since they won their respective conference championship games on Dec. 1.
“We are the only sport in the world that does this,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said in a news conference after arriving Sunday. “It’s almost 30 days in between the end of your regular season and the championship, but that’s part of it. We’ve worked hard up to this point.
“I think we’ve got a weird kind of balance of rest, getting our bodies back and getting some injured guys back healthy.”
There are health concerns on each side after Alabama sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa exited the 35-28 win over Georgia in the SEC championship game with a high-ankle sprain and Oklahoma junior receiver Marquise Brown was knocked out of the 39-27 victory over Texas in the Big 12 title contest with a lower-leg injury.
Tagovailoa threw 36 touchdown passes and just two interceptions during the regular season but struggled against Georgia, throwing for one score and sustaining two interceptions. That hiccup was enough to allow Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray to vault past him in what wound up a two-man Heisman Trophy race.
After arriving in Miami, Tagovailoa said his injury limited him only the first two or three practices in Tuscaloosa.
“I think it’s a mindset thing,” Tagovailoa said. “You’ve got to go in with the mindset that you want to get better right away, and that’s how I took it.”
When asked if he’s past thinking about his ankle injury, Tagovailoa said, “Not yet. Throughout the course of this week, I think we’ll get over it.”
Riley did not provide an update Sunday on Brown, whose injury did not require surgery. Brown has amassed 75 receptions for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Alabama is just 1-3-1 all-time against Oklahoma, with three of the five matchups taking place in bowls. This is their first meeting since the Sugar Bowl after the 2013 season, when the Tide failed to recover from Auburn’s dramatic “Kick Six” victory and lost 45-31 to the Sooners.
The Sugar Bowl has the allure of Bourbon Street, while the Orange Bowl provides a night scene as well if the players so choose.
“I’ll be in my hotel room all week,” Oklahoma senior left guard Ben Powers told reporters. “If not, I’ll be by the pool or the beach. I won’t be going out and won’t be in that mess. You’ve got to have a good time while you’re down here, but you’ve got to know how to control it. That’s the most important thing.”
Said Alabama redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Quinnen Williams: “I feel like there is a lot of preparation still to go. We need to watch more film and have a good week of practice.”
Trio suspended
Starting left guard Deonte Brown, reserve tight end Kedrick James and reserve offensive lineman Elliot Baker did not make the trip to Miami and have been suspended for violating team rules and policies, Saban announced Monday night.
Brown, a redshirt sophomore, became the starter before the Tennessee game and started five of the last six, including the SEC title game.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.