Alabama and Oklahoma were paired Sunday afternoon to play in a national semifinal at the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29.
Plenty of points are expected.
The No. 1 Crimson Tide (13-0) will enter the 8 p.m. game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, as the Southeastern Conference champions who have averaged 47.9 points a game this season. Their explosive attack would lead the nation were it not for the No. 4 Sooners (12-1), with the Big 12 champions having racked up 49.5 points per contest.
Oklahoma was awarded the final spot of the four-team College Football Playoff by the selection committee on Sunday, slipping past Georgia, which entered Saturday's SEC championship game as a 13.5-point underdog to the Tide yet led 28-14 late in the third quarter before Alabama rallied for a 35-28 win. The Tide have been tabbed as 14-point favorites in the Orange Bowl.
"We just go about our business the way we always do," Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said Sunday afternoon. "We have a lot of respect for the team we're about to play, no question about that, but we've got a formula that we believe in and a program that is used to winning. We know it's going to be a great challenge, but we're going to prepare like we always do.
"Our goal is for us to be at our very best. We can't control outside factors. I still feel our best football is out there, and I think we're heading in that direction."
The Sooners won the Big 12 title for a fourth consecutive season with Saturday's 39-27 triumph over Texas, and they are facing an SEC team in the postseason for a third straight year. Oklahoma defeated Auburn 35-19 in the Sugar Bowl after the 2016 season before losing 54-48 in double overtime to Georgia during last season's Rose Bowl national semifinal.
Oklahoma's win Saturday avenged a regular-season loss to the Longhorns, with Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray completing 25 of 34 passes for 379 yards and three touchdowns. Murray may have evened the Heisman Trophy race with Alabama counterpart Tua Tagovaolia, who was just 10-of-25 against the Bulldogs and threw two interceptions before leaving early in the fourth quarter after his foot was accidentally stepped on by left tackle Jonah Williams.
Jalen Hurts, who was replaced by Tagovailoa in last season's national championship game, entered and rallied the Tide to another memorable win at Georgia's expense.
"We've played Jalen a lot this year to where if this ever did happen, he would be able to handle it in a positive way," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "I can't say enough about it. If you wrote a movie about the same building, the same team and same opponent and how Tua took his place last year and led a comeback and he takes Tua's place this year and led a comeback - I think they would say this was too far-fetched, but it was certainly emotional for me that he was able to do it."
Saban said Tagovailoa sustained a high-ankle sprain, according to an MRI taken Sunday morning.
"It's usually about a two-week deal, so we'll re-evaluate him in two weeks and see where he is," Saban said. "It's a very similar injury to the one Jalen had (in the Oct. 20 win at Tennessee), and that took him a couple of weeks to come back as well.
"That's as much as we can say about it right now, and we're hopeful by the time we get started at practice that he'll be ready to go."
Oklahoma may have to play the Orange Bowl without star receiver Marquise Brown, who got injured against the Longhorns and was wearing a boot on his left leg while joining his teammates in the postgame celebration. Brown has 75 catches for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.
"We've done a few preliminary tests, and we're going to meet with the doctors these next couple of days to see where we're at," Riley said. "It was certainly a significant enough injury to where there was no way he was going to be able to return in the game. He's a dynamic player, but we were able to show yesterday that we've got some guys who are more than capable of stepping in and making the big plays that we've come to expect from Marquise."
Although Alabama is closer to Arlington, Texas, where AT&T Stadium will host the Cotton Bowl national semifinal between No. 2 Clemson (13-0) and No. 3 Notre Dame (12-0), the committee did not feel the top-seeded Tide would be fairly rewarded by having to play at a locale so close to Oklahoma. Saban said Sunday that he had no input in that.
"I didn't have a preference at all," he said. "I knew that we would be playing a good team in a first-class venue wherever we played."
Tide tidbits
Alabama is making its fifth CFP appearance in the five years of the event's existence, yet the Tide have yet to win a title as the top seed. As the higher seed, the Tide will wear their home uniforms. This marks Oklahoma's 21st Orange Bowl appearance and the 10th for Alabama. The over-under (total points scored) for this game opened at a robust 79.5. Saban and Pittsburgh's Pat Narduzzi were the only coaches to vote Clemson No. 1 in the latest poll.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.