There’s not been anything easy about this season for us,” said Venables, his voice straining. “I guess the harder it is, the more epic the story. What these guys have had to go through and overcome

For the Tide, the loss means the end of a chance at the SEC Championship as well as likely a berth in the College Football Playoff. Alabama moves to 8-3 on the season, the first season with more than two losses since 2010 when the Tide finished 10-3 with a win in the Capital One Bowl.

University of Oklahoma football head coach Brent Venables and his wife, Julie Venables, met in college, decades before she was diagnosed with breast cancer