Alabama football fans are in a place right now they have never been in before.
In his time as head coach of the Crimson Tide, Nick Saban instilled fear into the heart of every opponent he faced. He coached with discipline, attention to detail, focus, and a keen passion that kept players, coaches, officials, and media on their toes.
His dominance led to nine Southeastern Conference Championship and six national championships among other accomplishments; however, Saban is not the head coach anymore. His successor, Kalen DeBoer, comes off his third loss in his first season with the Tide. He did not have Alabama prepared to face Oklahoma on the road and the Tide suffered a 3-24 loss.
DeBoer now leads Alabama into the annual Iron Bowl against Auburn. The Tigers look to become bowl-eligible Saturday on Alabama’s watch at Saban Field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Clay Travis, who covers all sports — especially college football — for Outkick, was on the Next Round this week. After the loss to the Sooners, Travis said DeBoer puts ‘zero fear’ into the hearts of Alabama’s opponents as its head coach. The 50-year-old has had a roller coaster of a season since arriving in January.
“I think it’s a bit of an indictment of Kalen DeBoer that you would get this far into the season and there is no plan B.
What happens if they stack the line of scrimmage, have elite LB play, shut down the edge for Jalen Milroe and he can’t make plays with his legs?” @ClayTravis pic.twitter.com/VxjggIYIMO
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 26, 2024
“This is first time it has been zero fear of an Alabama head coach since Mike Shula was on the sideline,” Travis said. “It does not mean Kalen DeBoer can’t be good, but it means he is just not Nick Saban. I think everybody has to acknowledge that this has been a season where it has been a lot of nervousness in Tuscaloosa. When I go back and look and I don’t know if you guys saw the stats on this, but if you keep Jalen Milroe from being able to run the football … you have a really good chance of beating Alabama.”
Former Alabama QB says Oklahoma ‘exposed obvious Achilles heel’ of Crimson Tide last week
Travis added that he is more upset with how LSU did not shut down Alabama after watching the Oklahoma game.
“With two weeks to prepare, LSU let Jalen Milroe run the ball 12 times for 185 yards,” he said. “Everybody else since the first half of the Georgia game in the SEC has basically shut down Jalen Milroe, when it comes to running the football. I think that is a bit of an indictment of Kalen DeBoer that you would get to this far in the season and there is no plan B. What happens if they stack the line of scrimmage, have elite LB play, shut down the edge for Jalen Milroe and he can’t make plays with his legs? What is our counterpunch? The thing that would upset me from an Alabama fan perspective is Kalen DeBoer has had an entire season to figure out that counterpunch and other than throwing it up to Ryan Williams in contested plays and hopes he makes an outstanding play, there does not seem to be a game plan on offense. That would have me nervous going forward.”
No opponent is afraid of DeBoer because they feel DeBoer does not how to make sure is Alabama is consistently prepared to execute and play its best football each week. Auburn is certainly not afraid as a couple of their players have stated to reporters in media availability this week that the Tigers ‘will not lose’ to the Crimson Tide while they are at Auburn University.
Saturday will be very interesting, but DeBoer has to start earning his stripes now.
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber-only content!*
Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
