Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama Nightmare: Why the Crimson Tide Are In Serious Trouble

Nick Saban never lost a game like this. Period. End of discussion. The man who built Alabama into a dynasty over 17 seasons was perfect, and I mean absolutely perfect, in season openers. His teams showed up ready to demolish whoever had the misfortune of lining up across from them. They were meaner than a junkyard dog and twice as hungry. Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama? They just got their lunch money taken by Florida State. How did things get so bad?

The Embarrassing Reality Check

Let’s talk numbers for a hot second, because they’re uglier than a linebacker’s face mask after a goal-line stand. FSU, a team that won exactly two games last season and couldn’t score more than 20 points if their lives depended on it, just steamrolled the No. 8 Crimson Tide 31-17.

The Seminoles rushed for 230 yards and four touchdowns. Against Alabama. The same Alabama that used to make opposing offensive coordinators wake up in cold sweats. Here’s the kicker: DeBoer now has as many losses to unranked opponents in 14 games as Saban had in his entire 17-season tenure in Tuscaloosa. Let that marinate for a minute.

Why DeBoer Just Doesn’t Get It

Look, nobody expected DeBoer to be Saban 2.0 right out of the gate. But there’s a difference between growing pains and whatever this disaster was in Tallahassee. A source who worked under Saban put it perfectly: “You have to be a different breed to survive in the SEC.”

The South Dakota native made his bones in the Pac-12, where you could coast through half your schedule and still make the College Football Playoff if you squinted hard enough. The SEC? That is a different animal entirely. Every Saturday is a street fight, and you’d better show up swinging or you’re going home in a body bag. Program insiders say DeBoer believes he can out-scheme everyone—classic coach ego syndrome. Meanwhile, Saban understood that mental toughness trumps fancy X’s and O’s every single time.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Remember when Saban had that 100+ game win streak against unranked opponents? Yeah, those days are deader than disco. DeBoer has been a double-digit betting favorite in every single one of his embarrassing losses. That’s not bad luck—that’s a pattern.

The man left a $9.2 million contract at Washington to follow in the footsteps of the GOAT. Talk about buyer’s remorse. At Washington, DeBoer was living the dream—no pressure, beautiful campus, and a fanbase that treated making a bowl game like winning the Super Bowl. Now? Every Saturday feels like a referendum on whether he belongs in the same state as Bear Bryant’s statue.

What Comes Next for Alabama

Here’s where things get real spicy. Alabama’s remaining schedule reads like a murderer’s row: Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and that little rivalry game with Auburn to cap things off. With the talent level Alabama has—247Sports ranks them No. 2 in the country—losing four or more games would be coaching malpractice. Yet that is exactly where this train appears to be headed. The fanbase that welcomed DeBoer with open arms is starting to Google “coaching buyouts” with alarming frequency. Speaking of which, his buyout sits at a cool $63 million. Ouch.

The Cruel Irony

Want to know what really stings? While DeBoer was getting his pocket picked by Mike Norvell—the other guy who was in the running to replace Saban—former Alabama Quarterback Julian Sayin was out-dueling Arch Manning to beat No. 1 Texas. The quarterback Alabama let walk away looked better than the entire Crimson Tide offense.

Time For Some Hard Truths

DeBoer isn’t a bad coach. Leading Washington to a national championship game proves that much. But he’s starting to look like the wrong coach for Alabama, and in Tuscaloosa, that is the only distinction that matters.

The goodwill has evaporated faster than morning dew in July. The calls for coaching changes are getting louder. And somewhere in his ESPN studio, Nick Saban is probably shaking his head, wondering how his life’s work is being dismantled one embarrassing loss at a time.