Stephen A. Smith: Alabama CFP dud ‘an awful look’ for Kalen DeBoer
Published:
Stephen A. Smith handed it to Kalen DeBoer just like the Alabama fan base did in the aftermath of the Crimson Tide’s worst loss in postseason history.
The 38-3 shellacking at the hands of top-seeded Indiana at the Rose Bowl wasn’t just a bowl loss, it was a College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss that took national title dreams and broke them into pieces instantly. Unfortunately for Tide fans, the game wasn’t over in an instant, taking a little over 3 hours from start to ugly finish.
DeBoer was hearing it from everywhere during and afterward. Bama fans were roasting him on social media, and ESPN analyst Desmond Howard even questioned the Crimson Tide’s effort after the dust settled. Enter Smith, the ESPN analyst on all sports, who wasn’t going to sugarcoat what happened on New Year’s Day either.
Smith hopped on his social media and let it fly on DeBoer.
“There’s no way to slice it: this is an awful look for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama,” Smith wrote. “Losses happen. Thorough ass-kickings, in the CFB Playoffs, for an SEC team, is not suppose to go down this way. We’ll probably hear Alabama folks saying DeBoer should’ve taken himself to Michigan. I mean, this is that damn bad.”
It was a topsy-turvy Year 2 for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, complete with a Playoff appearance at the end. That’s the positive part.
But the negative part is what will last well into the offseason, and it’s likely going to be a long offseason for DeBoer, despite taking the Tide to the postseason.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
