Alabama’s upset over the weekend had playoff ramifications. Already, the FSU loss had weighed too heavily on their chest. Now, the SEC loss against Oklahoma hit that sore spot again, sliding from the 4th spot to the 10th in the latest playoff rankings. Both fans and alumni alike are disappointed with the scenario that unfolded on the home turf. Amidst this, Bama alum and Heisman winner Mark Ingram II puts out a blunt admission about his alma mater.

Botched kicks, punts, downs, and turnovers had the Crimson Tide limited in its offense. Already, the poor run game is putting more pressure on Simpson’s arm to sustain the drives against an already strong Oklahoma defense. Top it off with a botched kick, and you have a perfect recipe to earn fans’ ire.

“They deserve that,” Mark Ingram II says in a conversation with  Urban Meyer and Rob Stone on the Triple Option podcast. “You go in and have three turnovers. Botch, snap, hold, and kick. When you lose a game like that and is very self-inflicted against a good Oklahoma defense, who obviously forced the turnovers.”

Since the first quarter, the Sooners had been dominating the field. 10-0. Alabama soon caught up in the next fifteen minutes and closed the gap to 17-14. Having the potential and the chance to go 17-17, they messed up. And messed up big. In the last three minutes, quarterback Ty Simpson’s offense led a 13-play 69-yard drive, stopping at the 36-yard line. DeBoer called for a field goal, with two seconds left on the clock for halftime.

However, what followed was a botched field goal. Kicker Connor Talty missed it. That crucial moment had huge consequences, for after the next thirty minutes, Bama faced a huge upset in a 21-23 loss at home turf.

After the botched operation, an angry Talty could be biting his long snapper, David Bird’s head off. Though DeBoers’ reaction put a neat, biting end to the blame game, sending across a stern message that pulled the cover off Alabama’s challenges.

“We can get a little better snap, but we can make the kick too,” DeBoer said. “It is a little bit of everything on the execution – from snap to the kick. We gotta find a way to kick it through when it’s not perfect.”

He added, “Just really disappointed in the outcome … but the turnover battle, obviously, we got killed there … I think it was probably 17 points coming off of turnovers … we missed our opportunities for sure, and that’s what hurts so much.”

But on Saturday, Alabama’s failure wasn’t just a story of the missed kick; three more plays factored into that heartbreak.

Bama’s three major turnovers

The missed field goal attempt by Connor Talty wasn’t the only issue that rattled off Tuscaloosa. Sooners forced three turnovers over sixty minutes, and Alabama had no answer to that. Within the last three minutes of the first quarter, Simpson threw an interception, caught by defensive Eli Bowen, and was returned for an 87-yard touchdown, marking Oklahoma’s first touchdown of the game, 10-0.

The next blunder came in the second quarter. A fumble that proved costly. After a three-play 5-yard drive, Oklahoma punted on the 4th &5. Wide receiver Ryan Williams caught it, but Jalen Hardy forced the fumble, and the Sooners recovered the ball at the Alabama 31-yard line.

With 50 seconds left in the third quarter, another major turning point occurred. It was 3rd & 9. Ready with a shotgun snap, what followed was a sack, fumble, and turnover. Ty Simpson was sacked for the loss of three yards, and the ball was recovered by Oklahoma. So, naturally, the frustration in Tuscaloosa resurfaced after the FSU loss. But it was more intense this time, for the playoff berth is at stake.

As Ingram II summed it up neatly, with a 21-23 loss, it is natural that you will be placed behind the team you lost to, calling it ‘fair’ for them to be there. He further added that, fortunately, they have not been placed any lower and still have a shot at their playoff dreams.

At the latest, Alabama’s playoff chances are 84%, according to ESPN’s latest projection. Now, with an urgency, Simpson must win the last two games to make it past the regular season.