Stephen A. Smith says Alabama should 'beg' Nick Saban to come back

It's not been the inaugural season that Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer had expected in Tuscaloosa. After losing to Oklahoma, 24-3, this past weekend, the Crimson Tide are 8-3 and likely now on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoffs.

It was always going to be tough to replace Nick Saban — who brought six championships to Tuscaloosa and won another with LSU — but this has been a worst-case scenario for DeBoer.

Saban lost some big games, but he never would have dared to lose to Vanderbilt, a team that has been scrappy but is barely even bowl-eligible in 2024. He also never would have lost to Oklahoma while only putting up three points. Baked into that loss is the fact that it was 3-3 until 37 seconds left in the first half. The Tide were outscored 21-0 after mustering just a field goal early on.

This doesn't look like Alabama football. Again, it was never going to be easy to replace Saban, but the Tide are so down right now that ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith thinks they need to give Saban a call and see if he wants to coach again.

“You succeeded Nick Saban…This is in the immediate aftermath of Nick Saban’s departure," Smith said on ESPN's "First Take", referring to DeBoer (h/t On3). "As far as I’m concerned, Alabama fans everywhere? They should be begging Nick Saban to quit College GameDay – because he’s doing a great job. Convince him, beg him to quit the damn show, okay, and go back to Alabama right now and save this program from an abyss.”