Kalen DeBoer promises ‘different’ Alabama in critical, late-game moments
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For the first time since 2007, Alabama lost more than 3 games in a single season. The 2007 campaign, a 7-6 struggle, was the first year under head coach Nick Saban. From there, Saban ripped through the rest of college football to author an NCAA-record 16 consecutive 10-win seasons. Saban’s retirement after the 2023 campaign brought Kalen DeBoer to Tuscaloosa and brought that streak to an end.
Alabama lost 4 games last fall. Three of those losses came by 7 points or less. Over Saban’s final 4 seasons with the program, the Crimson Tide went 12-4 in games decided by 7 points or fewer. DeBoer’s first Alabama team was 2-3 in such games.
Alabama lost by 5 on the road to Vanderbilt and then lost by 7 on the road at Tennessee. It closed out the season with a 6-point defeat to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Even with the eye sore of a loss to Oklahoma on the ledger, flip 1 of those 1-score games in the other direction and Alabama likely gets into the College Football Playoff. (Of course, it works the other direction, too. Flip the Georgia game or the South Carolina game, and Alabama still gets locked out.)
One could argue that Alabama was due for some regression to the mean when it came to late-game luck. DeBoer will contend that success in those moments is less about luck and more about habit.
“Every week in the SEC, you’re going to get everyone’s best shot when you’re at Alabama,” he said in a recent interview with a local South Dakota news outlet. We know that. But you’ve just got to pick each other up. Your response to adversity, and those games being on the road in those environments, that’s what we’ve got to be better at this year.”
DeBoer was back home in South Dakota this week, serving as the speaker at “Sanford Sports Night” in Sioux Falls. Born in Milbank, South Dakota, DeBoer got his coaching career started at the University of Sioux Falls in 1997. He was asked about coming back, but he also offered some insight into how his Alabama team is readying for Year 2.
“We lost a 5-, a 6-, and a 7-point game, so we’ve got to be better in the critical moments,” he said. “That comes through repetition, understanding what we’re going to do when we get in those spots. I’ve really enjoyed this offseason teaching and working with these guys on how we’re going to be different and be better when those opportunities come up.”
In the losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee, Alabama had fourth-quarter turnovers that devastated them. In the loss to Michigan, Alabama gained just 112 yards in the second half and turned it over on downs at the Michigan 15 after throwing 4 straight incompletions. Jalen Milroe was sacked and fumbled the football at the Vanderbilt 47 in a 6-point game. Milroe was picked off on the first play of Alabama’s drive, down 7, with 1:24 to play against Tennessee.
Milroe has since gone to the NFL and Alabama will be quarterbacked by someone new in 2025. DeBoer seems optimistic the Tide will have a little more sturdiness in those late-game moments.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
