Let me start this column off by saying I don’t believe in &uot;moral victories&uot;. Moral victories are for teams that don’t have 12 national championships. Moral victories are for players, coaches and fans that are satisfied with playing a close game. Alabama went to Oklahoma and lost the game.

Period.

I will say this though, I was very proud of the heart and determination that the football team displayed Saturday in almost pulling off one of the greatest comebacks in Alabama history. Dr. Robert Simpson agreed, &uot;I was very proud of the way Bama came back.

It was a fun game.

I just wish it would have ended a couple of minutes earlier.&uot;

Alabama found themselves behind the Sooners 23-3 at halftime.

This was due in large part to poor play in the secondary. More specifically, it was due to one particular cornerback giving up two long touchdown passes. The same cornerback never made it back on the field in the second half and the long pass completions stopped.

Alabama also had a fumble in the first half that led to an Oklahoma touchdown.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in Alabama’s dressing room at halftime. Whatever Coach Fran said to his team obviously fired them up.

Bama came out in the third and fourth quarters playing inspired football. Coach Franchione also did a good job of keeping his team in the game with his play calling.

A gutsy onside kick to start the game as well as a fake field goal both resulted in scores for Bama.

Tommy Boyd felt coach Fran’s preparation prior to the game paid dividends for Alabama (no pun intended Tommy). &uot;Coach Franchione did a better job of scouting and knowing the opponent. That’s worth a couple of touchdowns.&uot;

Boyd also noted the improved play of the defensive backs after inserting two redshirt freshmen. &uot;Our secondary cost us again, but I thought Anthony Madison and Charlie Peprah played well.&uot;

Bama promptly scored on their first possession after the half and once again on a blocked punt a few minutes later to pull within six points of Oklahoma.

Alabama went ahead on a touchdown off a fake field goal in the fourth quarter and later tacked on a field goal to go up by four.

With the way the defense was playing I was sure this would be enough to win. In the end it wasn’t. Oklahoma came back with two late touchdowns to win 37-27.

A lesser team could have easily given up after finding themselves down by 20 points on the road against a highly ranked opponent.

Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops said after the game, &uot;that wasn’t just another team out there. I don’t care what anyone else says sanctions or no sanctions. That’s a proud program and I knew it was going to be a battle.&uot;

I was able to go to Oklahoma for the game, and besides the final score, everything went great.

Oklahoma fans were very courteous.

Prior to kickoff on the Jumbotron a five-minute clip of footage was shown that chronicled some of Alabama’s greatest games. Current and former players were also interviewed. That is something you would never see in the dog-eat-dog world of SEC football. We stayed in Oklahoma City, which is a short drive to Norman.

The town was packed with Alabama fans. There was a pep rally at the team hotel where I was able to talk to Mal Moore, Alabama’s A. D. He spoke highly of coming to Selma to speak at the Quarterback Club. I even saw Kenny Stabler going into a bar later that night and had my picture taken with him.

Imagine that, Stabler going into a bar the night before the big game. I’m sure that was a first.

Alabama has one week to put the Oklahoma game behind them and to prepare for North Texas.

North Texas won the Sun Belt Conference last year and went to a bowl game. They return 20 starters on offense and defense and lost to Texas 27-0 last week.

The game will kick off at 6 p.m. in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.