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Nick Saban couldn’t dodge the elephant in the room Monday night on ESPN’s College Football Countdown before North Carolina’s opener against TCU.
What the hell happened to Alabama?
Sitting between Pat McAfee and Teddy Bruschi inside Kenan Stadium, the legendary former coach didn’t sugarcoat his assessment of the Crimson Tide’s shocking faceplant in Tallahassee.
“Obviously, for me and for a lot of the Bama fans, the disappointment that Florida State dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Saban said. “But the good news is every team has the best opportunity to improve going in from Week 1 to Week 2. Really going into the season, you don’t really know what you have for sure as a coach and you’re always very anxious about what might happen in the first game.”
Saban then pivoted to teams that caught his eye – and his omission spoke volumes.
“I’m sure they’re all very disappointed, players, coaches alike but they do have a great chance to improve from Week 1 to Week 2. That’s when you normally make the biggest improvement. LSU, Miami and Ohio State all really impressed me, but I think Texas, Notre Dame and Clemson all have a really good chance to have great teams this year too if they make the progress they’re capable of.”
Did you catch that? No mention of Alabama among teams he expects to bounce back. That’s telling.
The DeBoer Era: Early Warning Signs
Just 14 games into his Alabama tenure, Kalen DeBoer has already lost to four unranked opponents. For perspective, Saban lost to unranked teams exactly four times in his entire 235-game run in Tuscaloosa.
Let that sink in.
What made Saturday’s meltdown particularly alarming wasn’t just the L in the column — it was how thoroughly Alabama got pushed around after their opening drive. The Crimson Tide looked soft in the trenches, something that would’ve been unthinkable during the Saban dynasty.
DeBoer seemed to acknowledge the physicality gap in his postgame comments.
“I choose to believe we got a good football team, but, you know, we can’t play on our heels,” he said. “We’re not going to be what we think we can be, what we want to be, if that’s the case. And so, again, that falls on everyone. I don’t just put the point the finger at the players. Both sides the ball, you kind of know what you’re going to see going into the game with new coordinators.”
He added: “We talked in the locker room, there is no excuse about what happened. We stepped on the football field. They stepped on the football field. We got to play ball. We got to play our style of ball.”
But what exactly is Alabama’s “style” these days?
The defensive identity that defined the Saban era has eroded significantly. The Tide ranked seventh in the SEC in total defense last season — their worst finish in over a decade. Meanwhile, the offense has struggled to establish any consistent rhythm since DeBoer arrived from Washington.
The warning signs were there last November when Oklahoma embarrassed them by three touchdowns. That wound never fully healed, and now it’s been ripped open again in Tallahassee.
Alabama gets ULM at home this Saturday, which should provide some temporary relief. But that won’t tell us anything about whether real improvements are happening. The true measuring sticks come against Wisconsin the following week and then — gulp — at Georgia on September 27th.
Actually, calling that Georgia matchup a “measuring stick” might be generous. If the Tide don’t fix their fundamental issues quickly, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs might turn that game into a three-hour infomercial for their program.
The post-Saban transition was always going to be difficult. But nobody in Tuscaloosa expected it to look this rough, this fast.
