For nearly three weeks, college football experts have doubted the Oklahoma Sooners’ chances in a rematch against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the College Football Playoff, but then they heard Sooner Nation loud and proud inside of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
ESPN College GameDay was in Norman on Friday for the No. 8 Sooners’ first-ever home playoff game against No. 9 Alabama and the show moved to inside Memorial Stadium for the last hour of the show right before kickoff. After already being in awe of the atmosphere inside The Palace on the Prairie, everyone but an Alabama legend on the GameDay crew couldn’t imagine the Sooners losing in front of that crowd.
Nick Saban on lonely island in picking Alabama in rematch with Sooners
Desmond Howard has never sided with the Sooners this season and was going to continue that trend, but then he admitted that he was convinced of changing his prediction after hearing Sooner Nation for an hour before the ball was even kicked off.
Obviously former Bama coach Nick Saban picked the Crimson Tide to win next, but that was the only one along the desk.
Guest picker and OU legend Brian Bosworth then triumphantly chose his Sooners to beat the Crimson Tide to advance to play No. 1 Indiana in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl and beyond before getting the fans around him hyped up.
“Oklahoma’s the last team standing,” The Boz proclaimed.
BRIAN BOSWORTH WAS ELECTRIC PICKING OKLAHOMA TO BEAT BAMA 🔥 @GotBoz44 pic.twitter.com/1IdiUZbx2L
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 20, 2025
After hearing Sooner Nation and witnessing The Boz unleash, there was no way Pat McAfee was going to disagree, so he also predicted the Sooners to beat Bama for a second time this season.
“I’ll tell you what, I agree with Boz,” McAfee said.
