The 2018 Orange Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game played on Saturday, December 29, 2018, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The 85th edition of the Orange Bowl was one of two College Football Playoff semifinal games, the game featured two of the four teams selected by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee— Alabama from the SEC, and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

from the Big 12 Conference. Alabama took off with a 28-0 lead in the early 2nd quarter and survived a furious Oklahoma rally to win 45-34. They advanced to face the winner of the Cotton Bowl ( Clemson) in the

2019 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game that determined a national champion in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2018 season. It was played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, ...

. It was one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Capital One Financial Corporation, the game was officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl.

Teams

The game featured top-ranked Alabama of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against fourth-ranked

of the Big 12 Conference. The programs had previously met five times, with Oklahoma leading the series, 3–1–1. They first met in the

1963 Orange Bowl The 1963 Orange Bowl was the 29th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1962–63 bowl game season, it matched the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide of th ...

, won by Alabama, 17–0. Their most recent meeting was in the

2014 Sugar Bowl The 2014 Sugar Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 2, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 80th annual Sugar Bowl, it featured the #10 (AP ranked), #11 (BCS ranked) Oklahoma Sooners of ...

, a 45–31 Oklahoma victory.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama defeated Georgia in the

2018 SEC Championship Game The 2018 SEC Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, to determine the 2018 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the East Division champion G ...

on December 1, then received their bid to the Orange Bowl with the release of final CFP rankings on December 2. The Crimson Tide entered the bowl with a 13–0 record (8–0 in conference). On December 25, it was announced that three Alabama players, including starting offensive lineman Deonte Brown, would not play in the game due to an unspecified violation of team rules.

Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma defeated Texas in the

2018 Big 12 Championship Game The 2018 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. This was the 17th Big 12 Championship Game and determined the 2020 champion of the Big 12 Conference. The game f ...

on December 1, then received their bid to the Orange Bowl with the release of final CFP rankings on December 2. The Sooners entered the bowl with a 12–1 record (8–1 in conference); their only loss was to Texas, by a score of 45–48 in the 113th Red River Showdown on October 6.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

External links

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Box score
at ESPN {{Oklahoma Sooners bowl game navbox Orange Bowl 2018–19 College Football Playoff Orange Bowl Orange Bowl Orange Bowl Alabama Crimson Tide football bowl games Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games