Alabama's steady Ty Simpson and Oklahoma's flashy John Mateer to meet in College Football Playoff

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Alabama’s Ty Simpson and Oklahoma’s John Mateer will bring contrasting styles to their College Football Playoff matchup on Friday.

Simpson, considered a Heisman Trophy candidate for much of the season, is precise and disciplined. He has 26 touchdown passes to just five interceptions. He doesn't run much, preferring to distribute the ball and let his receivers do the playmaking.

Mateer leans toward being a flashy risk taker. The Washington State transfer has thrown 12 touchdown passes to 10 interceptions. He makes spectacular plays with his legs, having rushed for 416 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He can throw an interception on one possession, shake it off and making a game-changing play with his arms or his legs on the next.

Mateer passed for just 138 yards and ran for 23 in the regular-season meeting last month at Alabama, yet Oklahoma won 23-21.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said the stats are deceptive. He said Oklahoma's offense spreads the field well, and Mateer’s running ability makes the Sooners dangerous.

“Ultimately, you have to find creative ways to defend lateral space and still care for a one-plus quarterback system,” Wommack said. “That, to me, is probably what they’ve done a really good job of. They just stretch you laterally with all 11 bodies. You have to be able to defend their one-plus quarterback runs. That will be a great challenge for us on Friday.”

Mateer got off to a strong start this season before injuring his right throwing hand against Auburn. He had surgery and missed a game before returning and struggling against Texas. He got back on track and threw just one interception in wins over ranked opponents Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri that put the Sooners in position to reach the playoff.

He showed the gamut of what makes him exciting in the regular-season finale against LSU. He passed for 318 yards, but he also threw three interceptions that almost cost the Sooners their playoff spot. He saved himself with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna III in the fourth quarter that gave the Sooners a 17-13 win.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said Mateer's approach to ball security has been a focus in recent weeks.

“I think it comes down to just taking your layups,” Arbuckle said. “There’s a basketball reference for you. I mean just taking the layups, taking the easy stuff whenever it’s there. Not trying to make something if it’s not there, just making your smart decisions whether it’s in the run game, the RPO game or the drop-back pass game, maybe trying not to force something, find a checkdown, something of that sort.”

Still, Arbuckle doesn’t want to take Mateer’s playmaking away. In addition to the late touchdown pass against LSU, Mateer scored the game-winning touchdown on a 9-yard run against Auburn and scored the decisive touchdown on a 1-yard run at Tennessee with less than two minutes remaining.

Arbuckle, Mateer's offensive coordinator at Washington State last season, has learned to trust his quarterback in those clutch situations.

“Everyone knows there’s moments in the football game where you have to go make a play,” Arbuckle said. “Sometimes it’s not there. Well, you have to go make it; you have to do whatever you can to execute in that moment and in that situation.”

Simpson, an AP all-SEC second-team pick, passed for 326 yards in the first meeting with Oklahoma.

“He played pretty good against us,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “Threw for over 300 yards, the first half had a lot of success. He climbs the pocket, he’s patient, got great confidence, he’s got tremendous arm talent, a fantastic athlete, great competitor. He’s got a natural leadership ability. He’s a guy that doesn’t flinch very easy.”

Simpson also had an interception returned for a touchdown in the first half and was held to 80 yards passing in the second. Oklahoma sacked him four times.

Simpson also struggled in the Southeastern Conference title game against Georgia, completing just 19 of 39 passes for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 28-7 loss. He believes the Crimson Tide has taken the right steps to get back in synch.

“I think it goes back to just one, communication, in general,” he said. “You know, just one-word calls in the huddle or on the line of scrimmage. Two, the little details. Whether it’s in the routes, our footwork, my footwork and honestly, just doing our jobs.”

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Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson (15) is tackles by Georgia linebacker Chris Cole (9) during the second half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Georgia defensive back Daylen Everette (6) pressures 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)

SAN BARTOLO MORELOS, Mexico (AP) — For 32 years, Cruz Monroy has walked the streets of a small town on the fringes of Mexico's capital with a tower of small cages filled with a rainbow of birds.

The melodies of red cardinals, green and blue parakeets and multicolored finches fill the days of “pajareros,” or street bird vendors, like him.

The act of selling birds in stacks of cages — sometimes far taller than the men who carry them — goes back generations. They've long been a fixture in Mexican markets and are among 1.5 million street vendors that work on the streets of Mexico.

“Hearing their songs, it brings people joy,” Monroy said, the sounds of dozens of birdsongs echoing over him from his home in his small town outside Mexico's capital, where he cares for and raises the birds. “This is our tradition, my father was also a bird-seller.”

During the Catholic holiday of Palm Sunday, hundreds of pajareros from across the country flock to Mexico City and decorate 10-foot-tall stacks of cages, adorning them with bright flowers, tinsel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint.

They walk miles through the streets of the capital with their birds and their families to the city's iconic basilica.

But pajareros have slowly disappeared from the streets in recent years in the face of mounting restrictions by authorities and sharp criticisms by animal rights groups, who call the practice an act of animal abuse and trafficking.

Monroy and others say they don't capture birds like parrots and others prohibited by Mexican authorities — which say tropical species are “wild birds, not pets” — often breed the birds they own themselves and take good care of their animals. Despite that, Monroy said in his family, the tradition is dying out.

In the face of harassment by authorities and mounting criticisms, he said he wants his own sons to find more stable work.

"Because of the restrictions, harassment by certain authorities, many friends have left selling birds behind," Monroy said. “For my children, it's not stable work anymore. We have to look for other alternatives.”

People walk with decorated bird cages during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Bird sellers with his decorated cages enter the Basilica of Guadalupe during their annual pilgrimage in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Humberto Lopez prepares a cage with birds to sell in Toluca, Mexico, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A decorated cage sits on a street during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

People walk with decorated bird cages during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A vendor prepares a cage containing his birds before an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)