Kalen DeBoer comes up short in the one area that Alabama promised to change following embarrassing loss to Florida State
Unfortunate, to say the least.
2025 was supposed to be different for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kalen DeBoer. After a 2024 inaugural season that didn’t live up to the Crimson Tide standard not only in the win/loss column, but in terms of discipline, swagger, and attention to detail, change was supposed to have occurred.
So coming into 2025, all you heard about was the insertion of DeBoer’s culture. Nick Saban even said as much on College Gameday on Saturday morning.
Yet, when it came down to to it, it was more of the same from Alabama, and that’s unacceptable at this point.
Alabama culture issues still persist in 2025
Flashback to 2024. You have captains like Malachi Moore and other experienced players throwing tantrums or recording just completely brain-dead penalties. You saw an offense and defense that lacked the attention to detail and focus that were staples under Nick Saban.
Now go just a few months back to the spring, summer, and even pregame lead-up. People inside of, around, and with close ties to the program said that all that was gone. That it was out of the Crimson Tide’s system. Yet Alabama recorded eight penalties for 70 yards, more than doubling the amount of flags that the Florida State Seminoles recorded.
There was a point in the game, where Alabama clawed its way back in. They were down only 17-24 with over eight minutes remaining and had the chance to get FSU off the field, yet a player gets called for jumping on the QB when he was already down. Sorry folks, that is purely discipline. It’s coaching, or in this case, a lack their of.
“But when you lose the game, you look at it, and you know, you gotta understand that there’s got to be a competitive stamina,” said DeBoer after the game. “You know, it was a long drive the first one, and it was hard work. You know, you had to execute. You had to make some big plays. You did it now. You got to go back out there. You got to do it again. You got to start play after play after play.”
You can call it whatever you want. The bottom line is that DeBoer and the Tide have to be better at the easy stuff. This isn’t Spokane or the Dakotas or wherever else DeBoer coached. This is Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and what happened on Saturday afternoon will never be good enough.
