A rollercoaster first season for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama is essentially over.
Following a stunning 24-3 loss to unranked Oklahoma for its third loss of the season, Alabama (9-3) is almost assuredly out of the College Football Playoff race unless chaos unfolds the next two weeks. A trip to the SEC Championship is off the table. Next week’s Iron Bowl will be devoid of its usual national hype, though the Tigers are coming off a big upset of No. 15 Texas A&M of their own.
The highs of this season, like a win over Georgia, were very high. But the lows were historically low. DeBoer had Alabama ranked as the No. 1 team in the country only to lose the next week to unranked Vanderbilt, the type of shocking upset that never happened under Nick Saban. Saturday night’s loss in Norman was, in some respects, even worse.
The 24-3 loss to the Sooners was Alabama’s largest loss since 2018 and its largest loss to an unranked team since 1998 when Mike DuBose lost 38-7 to Virginia Tech in the Music City Bowl. It is the first time Alabama has three regular-season losses since 2010. Given the stakes attached, it was an inexcusably poor performance in an important spot. Most frustratingly, Oklahoma dusted off the plan that Vanderbilt executed so well against the Crimson Tide, and DeBoer and his staff still had zero answers for it.
Sooners QB Jackson Arnold, who was benched earlier this season, ran all over Alabama for 131 yards. On the flip side, Oklahoma took away Jalen Milroe’s running ability (7 yards on 15 carries) and forced him to try to win through the air. Milroe regressed again, throwing three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and looked completely helpless for much of the game against Brent Venables’ defense. The offensive line, a veteran group, also was a mess.
With the Tide’s preseason dreams all but extinguished, it lends itself to a look ahead. The bad news for DeBoer is he might never have a more talented roster than the one Saban left him, especially when you add in players who ultimately chose to leave like Ohio State star safety Caleb Downs and Texas receiver Isaiah Bond. The 247Sports Team Talent Composite named Alabama the most talented roster in all of college football, a result of Saban stacking top recruiting class after top recruiting class. There isn’t nearly as much obvious NFL talent on the roster as some of the top Saban Alabama teams, but in a college football world with more talent dispersion and parity, it’ll be harder for any coach to do that moving forward.
1) Find the right QB
Jalen Milroe was always an imperfect fit for DeBoer and what he has historically preferred at the QB position. The truth is it was the same way for Saban. But roster issues elsewhere, namely on the offensive line, necessitated the need to take the limited passing ability and tendency to make big mistakes at inopportune times in exchange for Milroe’s big-play ability and tantalizing athleticism. With Milroe expected to leave for the NFL, DeBoer needs to get the position right next year. Backup QB Ty Simpson, a former five-star, is the presumptive favorite to replace Milroe, but it is a crowded room that also includes Washington transfer Austin Mack and incoming five-star Keelon Russell, who is the No. 3 overall recruit in the class of 2025. The Tide has a great building block with star freshman WR Ryan Williams, and DeBoer needs to capitalize with the right person to get him the ball.
2) Assess the staff and determine what needs to change
Growing pains were expected in Year 1 trying to replace the greatest college football coach ever and you have to be careful about not being overly reactionary to a disappointing season. But it will be critical for DeBoer to do a top-to-bottom analysis of everything, especially his staff, to see if everything is working as it should be. Vanderbilt and Oklahoma offered up the playbook on how to beat Kane Wommack’s 4-2-5 defense. Is that fixable with personnel better suited to play in that defensive style? Or does Wommack need to adjust his style? Similarly, the offensive line never lived up to its expectations this season despite returning a veteran group. Is that talent or coaching/development? Something never clicked with that group as Oklahoma capitalized on Saturday night.
A staff overhaul after only one season is rarely successful — and not what this program seems to need — but DeBoer needs to assess this group without bias or favor and be willing to make a hard decision or two if necessary.
3) Get a game-wrecker on defense
Saban left DeBoer a nice gift of LT Overton, who Alabama plucked from the transfer portal from Texas A&M and is the Tide defensive player most likely to be a first-round draft pick in the next NFL Draft. Still, Alabama is missing a dominant game-wrecker up front that it seemed to have in hordes for years under Saban. Every program wants guys like that so shopping in the portal will be very pricey — think close to seven figures if not more for immediate impact starters — but it’s a must for a defense that will likely have to replace Overton, Tim Smith and Jah-Marien Latham up front. That’s not even counting the loss of veteran defensive leaders Malachi Moore and Deontae Lawson, too.
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