Kalen DoBoer slayed his Oklahoma dragon, he's the right coach for Alabama | Goodbread
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NORMAN, Okla. − For much of the first half of Alabama football's 34-24 win at Oklahoma on Friday, Dec. 19, in the first round of the College Football Playoff, it appeared coach Kalen DeBoer's second season might end with even more of a thud than his first.
Back-to-back blowout losses to Georgia and Oklahoma to end the season wouldn't have sat well in Tuscaloosa, despite whatever can be said for the postseason qualification needed to play both of them.
What a difference 37 minutes can make.
That's how much game clock the Crimson Tide needed to flip a 17-0 deficit into a 10-point road win. And that's how quickly DeBoer went from a coach who might be right for Alabama to the one who plainly is.
This UA team has flaws for days. But it's also got something DeBoer's first UA squad didn't: a steely resolve. It rose from a beating and dusted itself off after an ugly season-opening loss to Florida State to win eight consecutive games, including four in a row over ranked opponents. Last month at Bryant-Denny Stadium, it took a gut punch from the same Oklahoma team it beat in the playoff, a 23-21 loss, and regrouped yet again. It delivered a must-win on the road against archrival Auburn − a game that was tied 20-20 with less than four minutes remaining − that threatened any worthwhile postseason play.
And here it was in the playoff, on the heels of a 28-7 shellacking by Georgia in the SEC title game, looking ripe for another ugly loss, when it once again refused to go away quietly. It started landing a few punches midway through the second quarter and kept swinging until disappointed Oklahoma fans started filing out of Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with a few minutes remaining.
Credit DeBoer for that.
A team reflects its coach, and this one has a locker room full of believers.
As Alabama coordinators Ryan Grubb and Kane Wommack spoke to reporters after what tied for the biggest comeback in CFP history, Crimson Tide players were singing in the adjacent locker room so loudly they could be heard through the wall. It was jubilant for the win, of course, but more than that, it's a team that believes in its leadership, which starts with DeBoer.
While we're at it, let's put on ice − no, make that outright bury − the continuing speculation that DeBoer will be coaching at Michigan next season. After the second-year coach flatly stated that he'll be Alabama's coach in 2026 last week, Michigan's interest has persisted, per ESPN. But after winning Alabama's first CFP game since UA defeated Cincinnati in 2021, what's far more likely is that he'll receive a contract extension.
Up next, the Crimson Tide (11-3) will take on the No. 1 seed in the CFP in undefeated Indiana, and its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza. And it will do so with a coach who has now taken a major stride forward from his first year to his second. Alabama is still a long way − three wins, to be exact − from a national championship. But it will be one of only eight FBS teams still playing meaningful football.
And it's got the right coach leading the way.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DoBoer slayed his Oklahoma dragon, he's right for Alabama
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