Analyst buries Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer's brief time with team

The start of the Kalen DeBoer era with the Alabama Crimson Tide has been rocky, to say the least. 

An argument can be made that this would always be the case for whoever succeeded Nick Saban. The man brought six championships to Tuscaloosa and had just one single-digit win season (his first at Alabama) in 17 years.

Those are incredibly large shoes to fill, so DeBoer has always been behind the eight ball.

Still, the numbers have been tough to swallow for Alabama fans. With the Crimson Tide's loss to now-No. 14 Florida State on Saturday, No. 21 Alabama has fallen to 9-5 in the 16 games coached by DeBoer. The Crimson Tide have lost three of their last four games, going back to last season, and this was the first season opener that Alabama has lost since 2001.

Anywhere else, this would be a manageable problem. At Alabama, though, this feels like a disaster.

ESPN's Dan Wetzel said as much in his take on the DeBoer era, so far,  on the "College GameDay Podcast" on Monday.

[There’s] almost so much disbelief that this is happening," Wetzel said (h/t On3). We spent the whole offseason trying to re-do the Playoff because Alabama didn’t get in! Must be something wrong with the system right? But there might be something wrong with Alabama.”

The Crimson Tide can absolutely still turn this thing around. This is the 12-team College Football Playoff era, after all. With games against Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU and Oklahoma all looming ahead on the schedule, Alabama has a chance to pick up a few signature wins.

The problem is, those are also games that the Crimson Tide can clearly lose. It used to be that the Tide were favored in just about every game they played in, and they were always prepared for those big-time, ranked matchups.

Now?

If the team that showed up in Tallahassee is indeed who these Crimson Tide are, DeBoer could find himself in big trouble.

"By the end of September, this could be reversed or toxic. But an Alabama fan is not ready to sit around and go 8-4," Wetzel said. “The team that you saw on Saturday might be an 8-4 football team, but might not even be that. I don’t know. They’ve got to regroup under duress in Tuscaloosa.”

DeBoer's time in Tuscaloosa could very well be defined by these next few weeks of football. 

No pressure, right?