As an outsider I don't read much into this game except for this: Oklahoma wanted to be there, Alabama didn't. You play them in the regular season, you probably beat them 40-7. After we lost to Stanford we didn't show up to play Arizona. We didn't want to be there, we didn't care, and it showed. Maybe the same thing happened tonight? I think Bama is the better team by far if you're comparing Oklahoma to Alabama, it was just a difference of motivation.
It's possible that happened. But the loss to Utah in 08 was "no desire" to a much more enunciated level, so I would personally hesitate to say it was that for this game.