Saturday cannot get here fast enough for college football fans, especially Alabama fans.
The city of Tuscaloosa (Ala.) will be crazy this weekend for a Southeastern Conference matchup between Alabama and Georgia inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saban Field. It is the first time Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide’s new head coach, takes on Kirby Smart. So much buildup has gone into the game with the Bulldogs favored by 2.5 points over Alabama. Tide fans want to be reassured once again that Greg Byrne, Alabama’s director of athletics, made the right hire to enter the post Nick Saban era.
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Paul Finebaum was on ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday breaking down why Saturday is so ‘massive’ for DeBoer.
.@finebaum says Kalen DeBoer’s first game as head coach in the Alabama-Georgia rivalry is “massive.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/ViaryIYEEN
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 25, 2024
“Georgia has played poorly, nearly losing to Kentucky,” Finebaum said.
“Alabama has looked great and DeBoer has had a seamless transition, which was almost inconceivable considering he was replacing Nick Saban. He has done everything right, and the fans right now cannot accept the fact that things have changed. They (Alabama fans) still think they (Alabama) are in charge on college football. I don’t want to tell them that they are not, that Texas is No. 1, but the problem here is that a loss would be a real shock to the system. Mondays after an Alabama loss are like nothing else because they happened so infrequently under Nick Saban.”
DeBoer is ready to show he was right for the job.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.