One thing about college football rivalries is simple: they do not care about your résumé. Your rings, your trophies, your legacy mean nothing once you step into enemy territory. As Brent Venables’ Oklahoma prepared to face Alabama for its first playoff appearance since 2019, Sooners fans entered a bit of a disrespectful state and spoiled Nick Saban’s evening until Pat McAfee stepped in to rescue him.

As Nick Saban made his first-ever playoff appearance as an analyst on GameDay for an Alabama game, the Sooners crowd went manic and booed him unapologetically for good minutes. That did not sit well with Pat McAfee.

The host of The Pat McAfee Show turned to the crowd and schooled Sooners fans on respect with a reality check:

“This man is an Alabama football legend. Please have some respect!”

Just another reason Pat McAfee continues to win over college football fans.

Not going to lie, booing Nick Saban is about as bold as it gets, but in Norman, bold comes standard. However, Saban handled it like the class act that he has always been.

Instead of crashing out, he bought into the moment and joked on air, saying something along the lines of:

“God bless Alabama for playing in this environment!”

The energy in Norman was off the charts all day long. One big reason the crowd was so pumped was that the University of Oklahoma essentially shut everything down for the playoff. The classes were closed entirely, and everyone (including staff) had the day off.

The word is they even postponed exams for a week so the entire campus could back the Sooners’ playoff run. Many analysts even consider Gaylord Stadium one of the toughest places to play college football.

A significant part of that reputation stems from the Sooners’ success at home. They have one of the best home-winning records in the entire sport, especially since the late 1990s. The stadium holds over 81,000 people and has been sold out for every single regular-season game since 1999.

The Sooners are 6-1 at home this season. This game is going to be very tough for Alabama to escape with the win. However, this isn’t the first time the Sooners crowd has gone manic against opponents.

Oklahoma Sooners fans’ quick history of going extreme

The atmosphere at an Oklahoma Sooners game has always been absolutely wild, especially in the student section. Every time they play heavy hitters, Boomer Nation finds itself making headlines.

We saw a perfect example of this last year against Alabama itself.

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After their unexpected 24–3 win over Kalen DeBoer’s squad, fans went rowdy and stormed the field twice. It caused a bit of a ruckus and ultimately resulted in a $200,000 fine from the SEC. Still, the university did not hesitate to pay it without a second thought.

It is not limited to big-time opponents. Their annual rivalry game, known as “Bedlam,” against Oklahoma State always comes with some kind of mischief. In past years, things have gotten so spirited that fans have been caught throwing snowballs and even a turkey leg at Cowboys players.

So while most of it is all in good fun and part of the college football experience, things can get a little crazy. However, booing Nick Saban would one day come back and haunt them.