Kalen DeBoer showed his championship-level guts with a 4th-and-2 decision for Iron Bowl lore
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Never question whether Kalen DeBoer has the guts for the Alabama job. Ever. Not after that 4th-and-2 call with Playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
Context. It’s needed. It’s always needed when it comes to the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare. Then again, maybe context just muddies the spooky waters on The Plains.
With Alabama locked in a tie game as the clock ticked under 4 minutes, DeBoer was faced with a decision that would’ve haunted him if it didn’t work. That is, take the points and attempt a chip-shot field goal, or go for it on 4th-and-2 from the 6-yard line. Perhaps the well-documented kicking issues with Conor Talty factored into the decision, or maybe it was just DeBoer trusting that a team that had already won a trio of 1-score games on the road would make the right play in that spot.
With 3 receivers bunched to the left and a pair of tight ends lined up inline on the right, Simpson did something that seemed impossible at certain points on Saturday night. He didn’t panic, he trusted a true freshman tight end to run the perfect pin-down on a pair of Auburn defenders, he trusted his progressions and he trusted Isaiah Horton to be open in the end zone one more time.
The stuff of legend? You bet.
Never mind the fact that Auburn just clinched its 5th consecutive losing season. As Nick Saban himself said on many an occasion, Jordan-Hare is haunted. It can spook anyone, especially the guy in his first trip there like DeBoer.
Nope. No worries. DeBoer not only stared down the Jordan-Hare ghosts in his first visit to Auburn, but by surviving, he can now take another first trip next week. An SEC Championship berth awaits, as does another matchup with Georgia, AKA the team that DeBoer already beat twice during his first 2 seasons in Tuscaloosa.
But back to 4th-and-2.
Why do it? Why not just take the points?
Context.
Fair point. In hindsight, “Gravedigger” was a touch more challenging than dialing up the right look on 4th-and-2.
DeBoer didn’t coach that game afraid, even though missing the Playoff with 2 SEC losses to close the regular season would’ve hung over him much longer than any Jordan-Hare voodoo. Had DeBoer lost on Saturday night to leave Alabama out of the 12-team Playoff era, he would’ve shown up on every offseason hot-seat list. Nobody would’ve cared that he became the first coach in SEC history to win 4 consecutive games vs. AP Top 25 competition without any byes or extra rest, and nobody would’ve cared about that 2-0 record vs. Kirby Smart.
Instead, the focus would’ve shifted to why DeBoer can’t seem to avoid land mine losses to unranked foes. Three months ago, DeBoer had to hear about his 4th loss to an unranked foe after Alabama laid an egg at Florida State. Losing to 4 unranked foes in the first 14 games was seen as fatal considering the context of his predecessor going without such a loss from 2008-20.
Also of note, DeBoer has since gone 5-0 in those matchups vs. unranked FBS foes. Anything less and Alabama wouldn’t have punched a ticket to Atlanta for the 4th time in a 6 seasons of the 2020s.
Of course, DeBoer doesn’t get credit for the 3 SEC Championship appearances (and victories) under Saban in that stretch. Some would argue that DeBoer isn’t even worthy of full credit for Simpson because he was a Saban recruit. That’s debatable. Simpson might not have followed the Heisman path in the latter half of the season, and there were certainly moments on Saturday night that felt like he was climbing a mountain just to complete a pass.
But in the clutch, Simpson was again at his absolute best
His 4th-and-1 scramble on a rollout that broke down kept that drive alive. The 4th-and-2 throw was like a warmup toss compared to the off-balanced touchdown he delivered earlier to get Alabama its first touchdown of the night.
Yeah, it makes sense why DeBoer has confidence in Simpson. If that type of pass rush can still yield that type of throw, you have to like your odds turning things over to Simpson.
If 4th-and-2 will live in Iron Bowl lore, the play that sealed it for Alabama on the other side of the ball might live in Iron Bowl infamy. At least it will for Auburn. On a potential game-tying drive, Week 1 scapegoat Bray Hubbard forced a fumble of the decorated Cam Coleman as Auburn was just outside the red zone. Fittingly, Deontae Lawson, who suffered a torn ACL in last year’s devastating, Playoff-derailing loss at Oklahoma, recovered it for the Tide.
What a difference a year makes.
Even if Alabama can’t beat Georgia again, it’ll have a legitimate argument to stay in the Playoff field after last year’s precedent benefitted SMU after it lost in the ACC Championship, but didn’t fall out of the field in favor of idle … Alabama. Ironic? You bet. Then again, Alabama would probably relish the opportunity to build off Saturday night’s thriller by getting in the automatic way by winning an SEC Championship and possibly getting a Round 1 bye.
But before Alabama turned the page to Atlanta, it earned the right to soak in what it did for the 3rd consecutive time at Jordan-Hare. It wasn’t Gravedigger, but 4th-and-2 was arguably as impactful of a moment of the post-Saban era.
“I’ve got a lotta confidence in our offense that we could make that play, and I’ve got a lotta confidence in our defense that we could get it back,” DeBoer said in the postgame interview with Holly Rowe. “We’ve been through this a lot this year. We talked about being built for it, being built for these moments. We found ways to get these wins at the ends of games over and over.”
As DeBoer answered questions with Rowe, a raspy Simpson joined him. They shared a smile and a hug. DeBoer was atypically emotional before he turned it over to his quarterback one more time.
“These guys are unbelievable,” DeBoer said. “Backs against the wall and they’ve been competing for a long time. These guys, they give me everything they’ve got every single day. It’s been a long road, but we get to continue on, and I can’t wait to go do more with them next weekend.”
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
