Ty Simpson had a message for everyone who doubted Alabama after the Crimson Tide rallied from 17-0 down to beat Oklahoma 34-24 in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” Simpson said in his postgame press conference. “I mean, y’all kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. Appreciate that.”
The comments drew attention back to ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from Friday evening, where most of the panel picked Oklahoma to win. Brian Bosworth led the picks for the Sooners. Desmond Howard picked Alabama, then changed his mind after seeing the environment in Norman. Pat McAfee went with Oklahoma as well. Only Nick Saban stuck with his former team.
On Saturday morning’s GameDay, the panel was discussing motivation in college football when Saban made a broader point about today’s generation of players.
“Nothing motivated this generation more than getting disrespected,” Saban said.
That’s when McAfee connected Saban’s observation to what happened the night before with Simpson and Alabama.
“Ty Simpson said it last night,” McAfee added. “Ty Simpson looked at the media after the game, he was like, ‘We can thank you guys…’ I guess I’m part of the problem, I guess, because I was up there going, ‘BOOMER!'”
Early on, those doubts looked warranted. Oklahoma built a 17-0 lead while Alabama’s offense sputtered through its first three possessions, gaining just 12 total yards. Simpson went 2 of 5 passing with a sack in that stretch, and the Crimson Tide looked completely overwhelmed.
Then, Simpson led Alabama on a nine-play scoring drive featuring a 23-yard pass to Josh Cuevas and a fourth-down touchdown throw to Lotzeir Brooks. The Crimson Tide scored on five of its next seven possessions, wiping out the deficit by halftime and pulling away after the break.
“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind at all,” Simpson said. “The guys that we have, the players, the coaches, 17-0 is nothing to us. Give us the ball, we’ll go down and do what we do.”
The Crimson Tide will face Indiana in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. If Simpson and Alabama keep using doubt as fuel, McAfee and the rest of the media might want to start picking them to win.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.