Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer has sobering admission after loss to FSU

The Alabama Crimson Tide lacked its usual intimidation factor in its loss to the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday, and head coach Kalen DeBoer made an honest admission about his team after the game.

Alabama, ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press preseason poll, was dominated from start to finish by unranked Florida State. The result was a shocking 31-17 Seminoles victory, which left many people wondering whether Alabama's college football dominance had truly come to an end with Nick Saban's retirement.

DeBoer, who is in his second season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide, called the loss to Florida State "frustrating." He also questioned whether Alabama has a great team this year.

"I know we have a good team. I don't know if we have a great team," DeBoer told CTSN, via Mike Rodak of 247 Sports. "Obviously we lost today, so we got a lot to prove to really convince people of that, including ourselves."

Florida State won just two games last season. Alabama went 9-3 before being left out of the College Football Playoff and then lost to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The loss to Florida State on Saturday was the Tide's fourth to an unranked opponent since last year.

"It's a long season. We obviously put ourselves behind the eight ball here and made it really challenging," DeBoer added. "There's so many good players that I just know as long as we can keep the whole thing together — which I really choose to believe the character of this group, that it will, and the grit of the leaders stepping up and just continuing to forge ahead. We got a chance tomorrow to get better. I know it sucks having that happen after a loss, but here we are. It's the moment we're in and all we can do is control that."

DeBoer had massive shoes to fill at Alabama, and the pressure will only mount after he began the 2025 season with a loss to a non-conference opponent.