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Paul Finebaum dissects perception of Kalen DeBoer after humiliating loss to Vanderbilt
By Mark Kern
Published:
Paul Finebaum joins the “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” show every Monday to talk about college football and specifically, the SEC. This week is no exception, and the obvious talking point is the shocking loss Alabama had at Vanderbilt.
Finebaum said that despite the tough loss on Saturday, that Kalen DeBoer won’t be judged on this game if the team does what it is supposed to do.
“I think it really means, What happens next,” Finebaum said about the fan perception of DeBoer. “Yeah, there was a tremendous overreaction, and that’s natural. But what people are going to focus on isn’t what happened a week ago or what happened on Saturday, it’s the last 6 quarters defensively which has been atrocious. He’s the same coach he was a week ago beating Georgia, and I don’t think this game is going to matter that much in the new world order that we live in. It’s simply a matter of making the math work to get to the Playoff.”
It wasn’t just the fact that Alabama lost that was so shocking, it was the way in which Vanderbilt did it. The Commodores dominated the line of scrimmage with 418 yards of offense and a time of possession of 42:08. Clark Lea’s team also went an astonishing 12-of-18 on 3rd downs, allowing the Commodores to extend drives.
He couldn’t exactly pinpoint why, but Finebaum didn’t think the Crimson Tide moved on from the Georgia game.
“I don’t exactly know what happened last week,” Finebaum said. “I talked to Kalen DeBoer on Wednesday, and he was trying to move on from the Georgia game. The problem was it was impossible to move on. Is that the reason it looked like Vanderbilt was the more physical team? I don’t have any idea, but these guys on the team are just like anyone else.”
After this week’s game against South Carolina, Finebaum said the team’s game the following week at Tennessee is the one people want to see out of DeBoer.
“What DeBoer does in Knoxville 12 days from now is ultimately going to be more important than what happened on Saturday in Nashville,” Finebaum said.
