Alabama defeats Oklahoma to advance to College Football Playoff championship

Alabama beat Oklahoma 45-34 Saturday in the College Football Playoff semifinal to advance to the national championship game on Jan. 7.

Alabama vs. Oklahoma final stats

Relive the action with our live updates that were posted throughout the game:

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Alabama-Oklahoma: Orange Bowl time, TV channel

Alabama and Oklahoma play at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 29, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The game is on ESPN.

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Alabama-Oklahoma: Orange Bowl prediction, preview

Kyler Murray might have won Oklahoma’s second consecutive Heisman, but he and the Sooners will be huge underdogs against No. 1 Alabama.

Not only is Alabama the reigning champion, but the Tide are only two wins away from capturing the sixth national title in Nick Saban’s tenure, just showing how dominant Alabama is when it matters most.

The biggest reason for the Crimson Tide’s confidence has to start with Alabama’s powerful offense going up against Oklahoma’s… not-so-great defense.

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Even if QB Tua Tagovaila isn’t completely healthy, Jalen Hurts proved he is ready to be the difference-maker again this season thanks to his heroics in rallying the Tide against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

On paper, Oklahoma probably won’t offer up too much resistance against Alabama. The Sooners might score 49.5 points per game, but they allow 448 yards and 32 points per game. Those 448 yards rank 108th nationally. Even though some of that is because the offense is so deadly and can score quickly, that’s still a huge discrepancy among the rest of the CFP four — Alabama averages more points than Oklahoma, but even the Tide surrender only 295.4 yards per game (10th in the country).

Murray might need to play an almost-perfect game, with the Sooners turning this into a shootout with a score approaching arena football levels. Turnovers could be the great equalizer, but Alabama is too tested and too good to go against now.

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Alabama-Oklahoma: Stats, how they compare

Alabama-Oklahoma: Score prediction

There might be only so much Heisman winner Murray can do to keep the Sooners in this for the entire game. Even if Murray plays well, the Sooners probably won’t have enough on defense to slow down the Tide — and that’s even if Tagovailoa isn’t 100 percent.

Alabama 42, Oklahoma 28