Winning in Athens is potentially the start of Alabama establishing the identity and toughness of what this program is going to be under DeBoer, but it’s a fool’s errand to read anything more into it than that.
ATHENS, Ga. — Unwinding the tangle of insane expectations and destructive pressure that surrounds the Alabama football program is a generational project, but one that will ultimately have to give way to the reality of what college football is now.
As Alabama players and staff members walked off the field Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, having secured a 24-21 victory over No. 5 Georgia that is undoubtedly the biggest triumph so far of the Kalen DeBoer era, there were of hugs of relief and celebration. The criticism that surrounded this program since its season-opening faceplant at Florida State was loud, and it was real. Coming to Athens and winning in a place where the home team hadn’t lost since Oct. 12, 2019 was like hitting the emotional reset button on a season that would have taken on a much darker tone had a few plays gone the other way.
“You’re going to get punches thrown at you,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “What’s your response going to be? Our response was to punch back and punch back harder. Even when there wasn’t perfect execution, I just felt like there was an attitude and energy that our guys had and there was going to be no regrets when we walked off the field.”
Indeed, Alabama didn’t outplay Georgia as much as the Tide beat them on the margins. It was DeBoer setting up a touchdown with a lateral to his 366-pound left tackle late in the first half for 11 yards. It was Georgia coach Kirby Smart declining to kick a chip shot field goal that would have tied the game with 13:25 remaining and instead running an ill-fated fourth down play to the sideline that never had much chance. It was quarterback Ty Simpson squeezing out a couple first downs — one with his legs, one with his arm — to prevent Georgia from getting one last shot with a frenzied crowd behind them.
“We did our job,” Simpson said. “And we made sure that we were very intentional about everything we did.”
No, this wasn’t Nick Saban-style dominance. Alabama didn’t score a point in the second half, but there was no lecture from the head coach about rat poison. That era is gone. It’s not coming back, and it’s not even clear that Alabama is anything more than one very good team in a college football landscape that does not appear to have a dominant team.
“There’s so much parity now,” an elated Alabama official said before getting on the bus and heading back to Tuscaloosa. “It comes down to one or two plays.”
Here’s the reality of what Alabama is dealing with: In the topsy-turvy, moment-to-moment social media world we are all living in, this will be the easiest week DeBoer has had since the beginning of last season because a lot fewer people will be calling for his job.
It’ll also be the hardest.
Because beating Georgia, while obviously important to their immediate hopes of staying in the hunt for the SEC championship and College Football Playoff, is not what will determine how long DeBoer remains at Alabama. Let’s not forget that even for all the lousy performances in DeBoer’s first 17 games as head coach, Alabama still has one of the most talented rosters in college football and should win some games like this.
Much more revealing is what happens next week when Alabama plays 5-0 Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa.
“They took everything that was out there and channeled the energy into us being better and getting better,” DeBoer said. “There’s two things you can do when things are coming down on you a little bit. You can go back into a corner or you can fight. And these guys made up their minds that they’re going to fight. And we’ve got to make sure we don’t forget what that chip on the shoulder was that kind of got this momentum going and understand what it took mentally, physically and emotionally today to be able to sustain it from start to finish.”
If Saban were still the Alabama coach, there wouldn’t be much doubt: The next several days would be one of the most brutal, punishing stretches of the season. There wouldn’t be even an inch of letup or celebration, knowing the propensity for 19- and 20-year olds (not to mention his assistant coaches) to relax just a little bit after a win of this magnitude.
But under DeBoer? Who knows.
After Alabama beat Georgia in Tuscaloosa last year, the team was emotionally flat the following week in Nashville and lost a stunner to the Commodores. In the immediate aftermath Saturday night, they didn’t seem too focused on revenge.
“Right now, man, 24-hour rule,” said left tackle Kadyn Proctor, who was much more in the mood to spend the next day celebrating this win before turning the page to Vanderbilt. “It all comes down to preparation, so we have to be honed in and focused next week on that practice and treat it like any other game.”
But the degrees that separate Alabama from Vanderbilt probably aren’t much bigger than that which separated Alabama from Georgia this time.
This is a completely different paradigm for college football. Nobody is as stacked with the depth of talent that Saban enjoyed prior to 2021, and teams like Vanderbilt that are well-coached and have used the transfer portal effectively can beat anyone on a given Saturday.
Ultimately, as the seasons go by and distance grows between the fantasyland Saban constructed and what it means to be a great program in the modern era of college football, it will be up to Alabama fans to either accept or reject what now seems obviously true.
Judging DeBoer or anyone who follows him on the standard of his predecessor will only lead to a cycle of cynicism, frustration and expensive coaching changes.
Alabama can and should be a great program. It just can’t be that program.
Winning in Athens is potentially the start of Alabama establishing the identity and toughness of what this program is going to be under DeBoer, but it’s a fool’s errand to read anything more into it than that.
College football is too muddled, and Alabama is too flawed, to know exactly where this goes. But for the first time under DeBoer, the Tide showed enough life and toughness and grit to envision a better ending than the one that seemed written a few weeks ago.
The era of perfection is over. This is about survival, and at least for now, Alabama lives on.
Category: General Sports
