The only reason Alabama Crimson Tide didn’t make the playoff in Kalen DeBoer’s debut season was because of the Oklahoma Sooners. And you better believe that loss still lingers in Kalen DeBoer’s mind every now and then. Fast forward 325 days later, the history is repeating itself. Kalen DeBoer’s Bama is right back in the same position as last season with the postseason dream on the line. The former Washington Huskies coach in his courage of conviction state and wants all the smoke.

On November 10th, The year 2 head coach made it to the press conference and talked about facing Sooners and getting his lick back for 24-3 humiliation at Norman: “You know, we have a lot of new players on the team, so there are players that didn’t experience that. The ones that did certainly better remember.” Kalen DeBoer basically said, the south remembers.

Despite being one of the best program in the country and ranked 4th in the AP Poll, Kalen DeBoer knows this isn’t same program they used to be last season: “And understand that, more importantly, you’re facing a really good program that, you know, obviously, we went to their place and got beat up pretty good last year, and that’s who’s coming to town this week.”

Plus, he gave props to Brent Venables for changing the program and culture at Norman. “And so, you know, Coach Venables has done an amazing job instilling a culture there, and, you know, got a team that is coming here hungry. They’re in the hunt for a lot of different things as far as reaching their goals.” It’s pretty obvious Kalen DeBoer is on Hunter mode. Why wouldn’t he?

Last season, Alabama literally got humiliated in front of the national television in Norman. The team was shut out after taking an early 3-0 lead. To make things worse, Jalen Milroe threw three picks, including one or two pick-six. The Roll Tide wasn’t simply rolling; they only put up just 234 total yards, worst since their 2018 natty. However, you can bet your money on Ty Simpson not to throw three picks this weekend.

This year, Oklahoma is doing even better. Last season, they barely reached bowl eligibility, but currently, they are 7-2 and ranked No. 12 in the College Football Playoff. Despite that, DeBoer doesn’t want Alabama to focus too much on Oklahoma. “We do then try to make sure that we always are focused on, really, this team being… what we’re centered on and us improving,” he said. He wants the Tide to concentrate on playing their best rather than worrying about the opponent.

Alabama has been on the revenge run this season. They already took two of their three losses from last season. They turned last year’s close losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee into wins this season. DeBoer hopes the team can learn from last season’s mistakes and use those lessons against Oklahoma.

The Vegas is sleeping on the Sooners again

Even though the Oklahoma Sooners surprised everyone last year by beating Alabama, Vegas oddsmakers aren’t giving them much of a chance this time. The No. 11 Sooners will travel to play No. 4 Alabama on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT, and most betting sites have Alabama as at least a touchdown favorite.

On Monday, BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel all had Alabama favored by 6.5 points. That’s lower than the 14-point spread Alabama opened with earlier this year. FanDuel also set the over/under for the game at 46.5 points, which predicts how many total points might be scored. This season, Oklahoma has been 4-4-1 against the spread and 1-1 as underdogs. The first time they weren’t favored in 2025 was in a loss to Texas, but they have shown they can still win as underdogs, including a 33-27 victory at Tennessee two weeks ago.

Vegas oddsmakers are usually good at predicting games, but college football is unpredictable. Last year, even though Alabama was favored by 13.5 to 14 points at Oklahoma, the Sooners won 24-3. That shows why Sooner fans shouldn’t worry too much just because Alabama is favored again. They could still pull off another surprise.