Paul Finebaum says Alabama can regain its ‘swagger’ with big win over Wisconsin
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The start of the Kalen DeBoer era down in Tuscaloosa has been a rocky one, to say the least. Many fans and pundits alike believe that the Crimson Tide have lost the “edge” that they had for the better part of the last 20 years under former head coach Nick Saban.
This was further highlighted by the Tides’ Week 1 meltdown to the then-unranked Florida State Seminoles, a game in which many believed Bama showed very little fight once they got down early.
Losing this competitive fire has caused a good amount of backlash from the wider college football world to be aimed at DeBoer, and this backlash has seen the pressure for the second-year head man to produce rise considerably.
DeBoer desperately needs to regain the swagger that Alabama had for so long, and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum recently said that he believes DeBoer can take a big step in this regard on Saturday against the Wisconsin Badgers.
“I expect Alabama to play well,” Finebaum told Greg McElroy on the Always College Football podcast. “I just, for the life of me, can’t understand their performance in the first game, but it doesn’t really matter anymore, though.”
Finebaum said Alabama just needs to “survive” against Wisconsin. The 73-0 win over ULM last Saturday, Finebaum thought, was more important from a psychological standpoint.
“A win here, as long as it’s decent, will give them a break during the off week, but I can already predict that if the confidence comes back, what Alabama fans are going to be saying the week of the Georgia game. They’re going to have a swagger because they really do believe that they own Georgia.”
A big win over a Big Ten opponent would certainly help both DeBoer and the Tide regain their confidence heading into the bye week, so it will be interesting to see if they’re able to get the job done on Saturday.
