Kalen DeBoer wants Alabama to use Florida State loss as fuel

The No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide have not lost many games against unranked opponents in the past 25 years, but that's also been a product of having perhaps one of the greatest coaches of all time on their sideline in Nick Saban.

Things have changed under Kalen DeBoer, and unfortunately for the Tide, it may not be for the best. 

They started this 2025 season with a loss to then-unranked Florida State. That marked the fourth loss to an unranked opponent in the DeBoer era, which matches the number of losses to unranked teams Saban had in the 14 seasons before his retirement.

It's not a good look, and a few more losses like that may doom DeBoer in Tuscaloosa.

The Alabama head coach is not asking his team to move on from that loss to FSU, though. In fact, he recently relayed on an episode of "Hey Coach & the Kalen DeBoer Show" that he wants his guys to keep the mental image of their loss to the Seminoles in their minds.

“We better be keeping the pain of what happened [in] Week 1 internally,” DeBoer said (h/t On3). “Channel the energy, channel whatever level of frustration, being upset, whatever you want to call it. We need to channel that into our preparation."

Kalen DeBoer wants Alabama to get angry 

When you hear a head coach say that he wants his players to channel the frustration of a tough loss, it's because he's trying to get his players out of the self-pity mode and carry them over into anger.

Self-pity will get the Crimson Tide nowhere. In fact, they moved on quickly into beating UL Monroe in Week 2, so they've clearly already gotten out of self-pity mode.

Anger can be a potent fuel for competitors, though, so it's smart that DeBoer wants his players to stew on that loss to FSU as they prepare for their next few weeks.

There's no room for error, either. For the Alabama teams of old, an unranked Wisconsin team coming into Tuscaloosa would be a piece of cake, but the Crimson Tide no longer can take any opponent lightly.

DeBoer said as much on his show.

“This week, we’ve got a very good opponent with Wisconsin coming in,” DeBoer continued. “And we’ve got to make sure that the same mindset we had all week long leading up to Saturday, that it continues for sure.”

Alabama is undoubtedly the favorite in this one, but this is also a "trap game" for the Tide. Up next is Georgia, but again, the Crimson Tide no longer have the luxury of looking ahead.

They also apparently no longer have the luxury of moving on from tough losses.

"We’ve done a good job of continuing to not let that pain, not let that fade off and understanding that we have a lot to prove. That’s just one game, and it was a game we should win," DeBoer said.