Paul Finebaum: Alabama fans will react ‘bitterly’ toward Kalen DeBoer over Rose Bowl loss
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The Alabama Crimson Tide‘s 2025 season officially came to an end on the first day of 2026. They were soundly beaten in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals by Indiana (38-3), a sentence that would have sounded incomprehensible prior to both Curt Cignetti’s arrival in Bloomington and Kalen DeBoer‘s landing in Tuscaloosa.
Cignetti, a Nick Saban disciple, fielded the team that looked and felt inevitable on Thursday. Conversely, DeBoer’s roster wilted and failed to rise to the occasion. The drastically different on-field appearance has Paul Finebaum believing DeBoer’s seat has never been hotter despite notching a CFP berth and victory.
“I have rarely, if ever, heard Alabama fans this angry, and part of the reason they’re angry is they got behind Kalen DeBoer a couple of weeks ago when he was considering Penn State, when it looked like maybe he was going to Michigan… they wrapped their arms around him and sang kumbayaa,” Finebaum said Friday morning on ESPN’s Get Up. “And now they’ve had it shoved down their throat by Curt Cignetti… who coached yesterday like Nick Saban.”
“That’s what is driving Alabama fans crazy today,” Finebaum continued. “Their team was soft. Their team got beaten at the line of scrimmage [and] beaten into submission… [by] Indiana, a school that not a single Alabama fan respected… they will react bitterly against the man in charge.”
The Crimson Tide’s CFP worthiness isn’t up for discussion because of their win over Oklahoma. However, those in Tuscaloosa won’t ever be content with just 1 CFP win. If DeBoer doesn’t deliver a deep run next season, he may find himself at the end of his rope when 2027 rolls around.
