Fact or Fiction: Sooners to the CFP, Alabama Back in Contention, Miami's Awful Loss

In today’s Fact or Fiction, I look at three big recent topics in college football and decide whether the statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.

1. Oklahoma is a legit playoff contender.

Farrell’s take: FACT

I’m impressed. I thought Texas had the better roster and would handle the Sooners in a closer game than last year but still come away with a 10-point win. But this OU team is legit. Dillon Gabriel was unstoppable but it was the dense that impressed me from the first play. They were flying around, hitting hard, and tackling — all things the Sooners didn’t do under Lincoln Riley. Brent Venables is a great defensive mind and he has this defense shored up. Are they a national title winner? Doubtful, but they are clearly a threat to win the Big 12 and, with that, possibly earn a playoff berth.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables celebrates with Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) after the Red River Rivalry college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. Oklahoma won 34-30.

2. Alabama is indeed scary again.

Farrell’s take: FICTION

I essentially wrote after the Texas loss that Alabama wasn’t scary anymore, but since then they’ve had impressive wins over Ole Miss and Texas A&M and are 5-1 overall. And I’m the first to admit when I’m wrong — but I’m not wrong here. This Alabama team still makes way too many mistakes (14 penalties and some clock mismanagement against A&M) and they look like they’re surviving rather than thriving. Finally, new OC Tommy Rees geared the offense for Jalen Milroe who throws an excellent deep ball and can run, but this team still doesn’t strike fear into anyone the way old Alabama teams did. Lucky for them the SEC is down this year as a whole but another loss is coming soon.

Sep 23, 2023; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) throws a pass against the Mississippi Rebels during the second half of a football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

3. Mario Cristobal made the blunder of the season.

Farrell’s take: FACT

Marcus Freeman thanks him. The Notre Dame head coach who had only 10 defenders on the field at the end of the Ohio State loss is now in second place for 2023 season blunders. For some reason, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal refused to take a knee and instead tried to run the ball to ice the win over Georgia Tech. And we all know what happened — a fumble, a long touchdown pass, and Cristobal goes down in infamy at least for this season as the head coach who screwed up the most. And this one will be hard to beat. Cristobal has been labeled an elite recruiter and not a great game coach, something he refutes vehemently, and this won’t help his case. This was a bad, bad loss.