NEW ORLEANS – With Adrian Peterson watching from the sidelines in the house that Drew Brees built, Trevor Knight played like him against Alabama.
Knight, a redshirt freshman quarterback—and Drew Brees fan, right down to wearing his the future Hall-of-Famer’s No. 9—completed 32-of-44 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns—the most by a Sooners quarterback ever in a bowl game in a 45-31 upset of No.3 Alabama.
A 17-point underdog, Oklahoma quickly silenced the critics in jumping out to a 31-14 halftime lead.
Alabama quarterback, A.J. McCarron and freshman running back, Derrick Henry would lead the Tide back to within seven at 38-31,before surrendering a strip-sack fumble by defensive end Eric Striker, recovered by Geneo Grissom with 56 seconds left for the clinching score.
For the game, McCarron would finish 19-30 for 387 yards, two touchdowns and toss two interceptions, finished his college career with a record of 36-4. Henry would finish with eight rushes for 100 yards and one touchdown.
The loss to Oklahoma would see the second most points(45) ever given up in a bowl game by the Crimson Tide since they gave up 47 in the 1969 Liberty Bowl vs Colorado, and the most points given up by a Saban-coached team(42 by Texas A&M).
Under Saban, the Tide drop to 5-2 in bowl games, with both losses coming in Sugar Bowl.