TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama players haven't forgotten their last game — last two, really — against Oklahoma.
The Sooners won 23-21 in Tuscaloosa a month ago and then celebrated by taking photos at midfield after ending the Crimson Tide's 17-game home-winning streak. Alabama staffers ushered the Sooners off the logo, creating a contentious scene that included at least one Oklahoma player spitting on the logo.
“That type of disrespect will be addressed on the field,” Tide linebacker Justin Jefferson said. “We just got to go give it to them, take the ball off them and bring it home for Alabama.”
No. 11 Alabama will get another shot at eighth-ranked Oklahoma when they meet in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
The rematch is in Norman, Oklahoma, on Friday night. It’s the second straight rematch for the Crimson Tide, which beat Georgia 24-21 in the regular season and then lost to the Bulldogs 28-7 in the SEC championship game.
Alabama (10-3, No. 9 CFP) stopped short of calling this one a revenge game, but a few factors add another level of motivation.
“We’re really excited,” Jefferson said. “I’ve never beaten Oklahoma, so I’m more than ready. I think we have what it takes.”
Few guys on Alabama's roster have beaten Oklahoma (10-2, No. 8 CFP).
The Sooners smoked Alabama 24-3 in Norman in 2024 and prevented the Tide from making the CFP. This season’s loss left Alabama squarely on the playoff bubble — and likely prevented the tradition-rich program from hosting a first-round game.
Now the teams meet for the third time in a little over a year, with much higher stakes. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to take on top-ranked and top-seeded Indiana in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
“We know what to expect as far as playing them,” Alabama star receiver Ryan Williams said. “We have a great idea of what’s to come. We just have to execute at a high level.”
Getting a grip on turnovers would be a start.
The Tide turned the ball over three times against Oklahoma, including an 87-yard interception return for a touchdown. On the other side, the Sooners were the only team to not commit a turnover against the Tide in the regular season.
Turnovers also hurt Alabama in the SEC championship, with an interception leading to a Georgia touchdown in the first half.
“We just need to execute the simple,” Williams said. “Make simple plays simple and continue to try to be the best ball security and ball dominant team in the country.”
If Alabama takes better care of the ball, it surely improves its chances of an upset — and getting payback. Oklahoma is a 1 1/2-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
“Coming up short at the end of the game was disappointing because that's something we’ve done a pretty good job of," Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Go back to the Oklahoma game, a number of our guys got dinged up and just grinding through it.
"I’m sure Oklahoma is looking to get some guys back, including probably a continued stronger quarterback with (John) Mateer. I know that that’s the thing that draws a lot of attention on their end. But we’re looking forward to this rematch.”
If Alabama wins, no one should be surprised to see players heading to midfield.
“It’s just a blessing to get another opportunity,” Jefferson said. “To play again, compete for a national championship, another learning moment this season.”
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Alabama running back Daniel Hill (4) runs against Georgia linebacker Chris Cole (9) during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Alabama head coach Kalen Deboer speaks to an official during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game between Georgia and Alabama, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Georgia linebacker Zayden Walker (10) hits Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson (15) during the second half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Saturday freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from prison, a human rights advocate confirmed to The Associated Press.
Their release comes as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to improve relations with Washington. In exchange for sanctions relief, Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners, the Belta state news agency reported. The U.S. earlier on Saturday announced lifting sanctions on the country’s potash sector.
A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.
John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash after meeting Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday.
Speaking with journalists, Coale described the two-day talks as “very productive,” Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported Saturday. He said that normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was “our goal.”
“We’re lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We’re constantly talking to each other,” he said, according to Belta. He also said that the relationship between the countries was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue.
Later Saturday, Bialiatski and Kolesnikova were released from prison, according to Pavel Sapelka, human rights advocate with the Viasna rights group.
Human rights advocate Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.
Bialiatski, awarded the prize while in jail awaiting trial, was later convicted of smuggling as well as financing actions that violate public order — charges widely denounced as politically motivated — and sentenced to 10 years in 2023.
Authorities said Bialiatski, who founded Viasna, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent human rights group, was seen as especially dangerous because of what the authorities alleged were his “extremist tendencies.” The 63-year-old has been imprisoned at a penal colony in Gorki in a facility that is notorious for beatings and hard labor. Bialiatski’s wife said his health was deteriorating and he has multiple chronic illnesses.
A U.N. panel of human rights experts has called on Belarus to release him.
Kolesnikova was a key figure in the mass protests that rocked Belarus in 2020, and is a close ally of an opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Kolesnikova, known for her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming a heart with her hands, became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her in September 2020. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces at the frontier, tore up her passport and walked back into Belarus.
The 43-year-old professional flautist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison. She fell seriously ill behind bars and underwent surgery.
The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko in September 2025, Washington announced easing some of the sanctions against Belarus while Mink released more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania. With that September release, the number of prisoners freed by Belarus since July 2024 exceeded 430, in what was widely seen as an effort at a rapprochement with the West.
“The freeing of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is seeking to ease them,” Tsikhanouskaya told the AP on Saturday.
She added: “But let’s not be naive: Lukashenko hasn’t changed his policies, his crackdown continues and he keeps on supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s why we need to be extremely cautious with any talk of sanctions relief, so that we don't reinforce Russia's war machine and encourage continued repressions.”
Tsikhnouskaya also described European Union sanctions against Belarusian potash fertilizers as far more painful for Minsk that those imposed by the U.S, saying that while easing U.S. sanctions could lead to the release of political prisoners, European sanctions should push for long-term, systemic changes in Belarus and the end of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Belarus, which previously accounted for about 20% of global potash fertilizer exports, has faced sharply reduced shipments since Western sanctions targeted state producer Belaruskali and cut off transit through Lithuania’s Klaipeda port, the country’s main export route.
“Sanctions by the U.S., EU and their allies have significantly weakened Belarus’s potash industry, depriving the country of a key source of foreign exchange earnings and access to key markets,” Anastasiya Luzgina, an analyst at the Belarusian Economic Research Center BEROC, told AP.
“Minsk hopes that lifting U.S. sanctions on potash will pave the way for easing more painful European sanctions; at the very least, U.S. actions will allow discussions to begin,” she said.
The latest round of U.S.-Belarus talks also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta reported.
Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given “good advice” on how to address the Ukraine war, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were “longtime friends” with “the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.”
"Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others,” Coale said.
In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)
