it's Kalen DeBoer's show at Alabama. Georgia loss showed good and bad | Opinion
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Thanks for the head’s up, Nick. We don’t need it.
We’ve watched it evolve since the moment Kalen DeBoer stepped foot in Tuscaloosa.
“He’s done a great job. This is his team,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban said of his successor DeBoer on ESPN’s "GameDay" set prior to the classic heavyweight slugfest between No. 7 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia.
The good, the bad, the losses to Georgia.
Because as we continue to analyze DeBoer replacing the greatest coach in college football history, it begins and ends with these games against Georgia ― including Saturday night’s 20-17 loss in Tuscaloosa.
Not any other low-hanging fruit.
Not the nine losses in the first two seasons, not the worst bowl loss in program history, or first loss to Vanderbilt in more than 40 years.
Not even the loss of the Alabama mystique.
The Tide is chasing Georgia, and has been since the day Saban walked away after the 2023 season. Which begs the question: was Saban praising DeBoer prior to yet another mega matchup — or distancing from him?
This is structurally and culturally DeBoer’s program, there is no doubt. And but for two game-turning moments late in the fourth quarter that scuttled a classic comeback — an iffy no-call on possible pass interference on Georgia, and a personal foul on Tide cornerback Dijon Lee Jr. — it was finally beginning to play out.
Alabama was tough and played with bad intent. It was physical and stood up to the SEC’s boogeyman, trading blows with the most physically punishing team in college football.
For the first time since DeBoer arrived at Alabama, the Tide actually looked like a Saban team. And here’s the key moving forward: for the first time in three years, DeBoer is playing with a quarterback he recruited and developed.
Not one he inherited from You Know Who.
Not a project like Jalen Milroe, or a career backup like Ty Simpson. But an elite bluechip recruit that DeBoer recruited and developed and picked specifically for his system and the future of his program.
Keelon Russell is a rare talent, an elite thrower and a dangerous, speedy threat when escaping the pocket. He’s a program-changer.
He threw for 185 yards and a touchdown against Georgia, and ran for another 41. You could argue that he didn’t touch the ball enough.
He threw 30 passes, and had nine of Alabama’s 29 carries. But there are still too many drops from the Alabama receivers and tight ends, and the pass protection is still leaky.
If he were on the roster in 2023, the decision to leave would’ve been much more difficult for Saban. No coach was away from a talent like Russell, from a player that can win the biggest game of all.
Especially when everything else on the roster is set up.
Alabama is running the ball with power and breakaway ability again. The defense is athletic and physical and aggressive — and despite giving up more than 450 yards to Georgia, played well enough to win the game.
This is DeBoer’s best team by a long way, a group that could make a long run in the CFP. One loss to Georgia — DeBoer’s first in the regular season in three games against the Dawgs — won’t change that.
In fact, it will only enhance it. Alabama and Georgia could play two more times this season: in the SEC championship game, and possibly in the College Football Playoff.
As difficult as it all ended late Saturday night, as hard as it was to watch it all play out with unforced errors, Alabama actually looks closer to Georgia than ever before.
We don’t need Nick to tell us that.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: it's Kalen DeBoer's show at Alabama. Georgia loss showed good and bad | Opinion
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