Oklahoma starter gives Alabama Crimson Tide the bulletin board material it needs ahead of rematch in College Football Playoff
Here’s what Oklahoma is saying ahead of the huge game on Friday night.
The Alabama Crimson Tide had a week off ahead of the College Football Playoff, but the noise was louder than ever. A shocking firing had Kalen DeBoer center stage for coaching rumors, and questions about what happened in the SEC Championship continued to linger.
But a flip was switched externally on Sunday when DeBoer and the University released a statement about his future at the program. So it’s clear that Alabama is focused, with a rematch against the Oklahoma Sooners in its crosshairs. Only, the same can be said of the Sooners, with a key starter offering up some bulletin board material for the Crimson Tide.
Taylor Wein says it’s just another game for Oklahoma
“For me, the first round of the playoffs was four [games] ago,” Wein said, via Josh Callaway of 247 Sports. “This is just another game. We knew that if we lost, that was going to ruin a lot of our goals. So our mentality is, we’re not going to lose. We’re going to figure out a way to win. We need to play our best ball. And when we do play at a really high level, it’s really hard to beat us. So for us, yeah, it’s just another game. We gotta go 1-0.”
I wouldn’t exactly say it’s just another game, but perhaps the Alabama Crimson Tide can turn that quote into something. Oklahoma is already feeling confident, given how the matchup went the first time around. As is Wein, who, in my preview with Justin Churchill of A to Z Sports Oklahoma, was a player that the Crimson Tide has to watch for.
“This is a guy the college football world doesn’t really know about yet, but they certainly will. It’s hard to be on the other end when the leader is R Mason Thomas. However, when Thomas was hurt, Wein not only stepped up, but went nuclear. Against Bama the first time, Wein had a blocked field goal and a few tackles for loss. He’s a guy who’s very technically sound and kind of reminds you a lot of Maxx Crosby in that he just has a dawg mentality. Wein can take over a game.” – Churchill
The truth is, all the motivation needs to come from within for Alabama. The team just received a second shot at life after an abysmal showing in the SEC Championship. The hope, if you’re an Alabama fan, is that the week off served as a reset.
A reset that gets Ty Simpson back to making the easy throws, Ryan Williams back to making the catches we know he can, and getting the offensive line on track in the run game. We will find out soon enough if that’s the case.
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