The Oklahoma offense, which Alabama kept fairly in check in Tuscaloosa, would make some changes for the College Football Playoff game.
There are going to be wrinkles.
The defensive coordinator was right. Alabama's defense didn't handle them well at first, to the tune of the Sooners jumping out to a 17-point lead in the second quarter.
Then the Crimson Tide adjusted and, for the most part, shut Oklahoma's offense down. Over the final 2.5 quarters, No. 9 Alabama limited the No. 8 Sooners to seven points en route to a 34-24 victory on Friday at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in the first round of the 12-team playoff.
"You think back on where we have gone, and you think about a year ago not being able to answer the bell and not punch back," Wommack said, "and now I think all our kids do is they fight, they punch, and they just keep punching, and that's the only way you come back from a 17-0 game like that."
Alabama's offense sputtered out of the gate, tallying three three-and-outs. And that put the Crimson Tide's defense in a tough spot. Oklahoma was moving at will, scoring points on three of its first four drives. Alabama needed to somehow stop the bleeding.
"I thought they had a great plan early on," Wommack said. "I thought the quarterback played out of his mind in the first half. He was dialed in, did a really good job."
Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer rushed for a touchdown and threw for another as Alabama struggled to pressure him early. By the time that second touchdown drive ended with 10:51 left in the second quarter, Oklahoma had tallied 166 yards to Alabama's 12.
"They changed tendency at pretty much every 1st, 2nd, 3rd down," Wommack said.
Wommack and his staff needed to get things figured out fast. Alabama needed to adjust.
And, it did.
It started with defensive tackle Tim Keenan III blocking a punt. Oklahoma's punter dropped the ball then still tried to punt it. That gave the Crimson Tide the ball in Oklahoma territory.
The next defensive drive, with Alabama trailing 17-10, cornerback Zabien Brown produced the defensive play of the game.
Brown was going to drop into the flat, and Brown saw Mateer audibling before the snap on second-and-13.
"Reading his eyes, it kind of looked like he wanted to go over there pre-snap," Brown said. "I just fell into the flats. The ball fell right into my hands."
Brown happened to be in the right spot at the right time, but that wasn't by accident. Wommack said Alabama saw something to where it thought it could "bait them into it."
"We had showed a little bit of zero pressure," Wommack said, "and then all of a sudden we baited to a drop-eight, Cover 2 (essentially two safeties back), and Zabien made a hell of a play."
Mateer said he made a check before the play, but it was a bad check.
"I got tricked," Mateer said. "And it was pretty bad. You watch the tape, it was obvious it wasn't a Cover 0 (no safety help) and I got tricked."
Then Brown, with the ball in hand, ran past Mateer to the end zone for the 50-yard pick six. That tied the game at 17-17 before halftime. Oklahoma struggled to recover from there.
After the touchdown in the second quarter with 10:51 left before halftime, the Sooners only scored one more time. Deion Burks caught a 37-yard touchdown from Mateer with 14:45 left in the game.
"We're a resilient team," linebacker Deontae Lawson said. "Even though we were down 17-0, we didn't really look at the scoreboard. We know coach DeBoer always says keep playing and the game will come back to you. That's been our mindset all year."
Alabama went on a 34-7 run to close out the game. As the game went on, the Crimson Tide ramped up pressure, finishing with five sacks. Alabama also tallied 20 pressures, per Pro Football Focus. Yhonzae Pierre led the way with four.
Oklahoma tallied only 27 yards of offense in the third quarter and 99 in the fourth.
"You don't win those games without great culture," Wommack said. "You have a great team culture. You've got a bunch of fighters, a bunch of punchers. That wasn't who we were a year ago. We learned how to do that."
Compared to last year, Alabama looked like a much different team on that very same field. In the Oklahoma game during the 2024 regular season, the Crimson Tide couldn't recover after early mistakes and lost 24-3.
This team, down 17 points, didn't flinch.
"We've learned how to fight," Wommack said. "So now we have a culture of fighters, and that starts with our head coach who's a puncher, and it just rubs off on the rest of our coaching staff and our players, and that's how you win games like that."