After worst postseason loss in Alabama history, the Tide are on the wrong side of a 'fine line' under Kalen DeBoer

[NorCalTide]

I would hope DeBoer is smart enough to know he is likely coaching for his job next season and that the current OL situation won’t fly three years in a row. If a new OL coach isn’t announced soon, there needs to be a change at HC at the end of next season. If I were in Byrne’s shoes, I’d have already met with DeBoer after the embarrassment the other day and if I didn’t get the correct answers to the questions I asked, I’d start researching a replacement right now.

I am not sure we want to be a revolving door of coaches. As much as Saban left a much better infrastructure then when he arrived, the roster was lacking after the mass roster departures when he left. KDB has been dealing with lack of roster depth, just look at NFL draft projections for this year. The 2026 season is his 2nd recruiting class and he is going to have to dive into the portal for some dudes to have a roster to survive a 9 game SEC schedule + FSU.

Coach Saban prided his teams on having practices where the 2s could compete with the 1s because they were that good and we had that depth. Transfer Portal, NIL, and Saban's departure have all contributed to the attrition of that depth and the lack of quality upper classes now. That player deoth is critical for Bama going forward.

Now you also have that conversation with DeBoer about something not being right within the culture of the program, "Bama doesn't quit on the field and prides itself on being the alpha on the field.

Indiana is proof that these things can be turned around quickly.

On a side note regarding Indiana. I thought it was interesting that everyone was talking about Bama being a blue blood and could Indiana handle the stage. It was Indiana that was the playoff team last year, not Bama. Most of Indiana's roster was playoff tested with a year to prep for this year, not Bama's. They understood the importance of winning their 1v1 battle on the field and doing their job better than our guys.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

If Ty was so badly beat up that he was a liability then perhaps DeBoer should have replaced him.

It might be an indictment on Austin Mack and we know Russell is nowhere near ready.

 

[JDCrimson]

It might be an indictment on Austin Mack and we know Russell is nowhere near ready.

It may have been a lack of reps but Mack had some accuracy issues against IU.

 

[NorCalTide]

It may have been a lack of reps but Mack had some accuracy issues against IU.

We score a touchdown with a better thrown ball to Bernard. Still got a big play, but should have been 6

 

[BigAlinKnoxville]

I've defended him all along for the most part, but now I'm beginning to think that he was simply handed the remnant of a good team left over by Saban. He seems to lack the ability to even maintain that, let alone build on it.

Either way, changes must be made and quickly. Thursday was the first time since the DuBose Error that I was actually embarrassed for my team.

That embarrassment will likely hurt us in recruiting, as well, when potential players see the program going downhill.

 

[GrayTide]

I think it might be a catharsis for all Tidefans to take a few days off and take a breath because it happened and, is in the history books. CKD will either clean house within his staff or he won't. Regardless of which route he takes he and his staff need to put a full course press on the transfer portal, including bringing in an experienced QB. It goes without saying that both the OL and DL need an injection of experienced and better conditioned players. As someone on Tidefans said "CKD will be coaching for his job next season".

 

[JBW819]

Glenn Schumann at Georgia just had his season end. He's a Bama alum. I do not think we have a defensive problem though (other than defensive players thinking that "tackling" means throwing a shoulder into the ball carrier and not wrapping up).

As for OC and o-line coach, we need a Jeff Stoutland kind of o-line coach. One who coaches the o-line up to play with an attitude. I do not know of a young o-line coach like that, though.

As for OC, someone who can repeat after me, "run the ball." One who, on 4th and 1, is not in the shotgun.

When the other team runs the ball down our throat (47 rushes for 221 yards) and totally dominates us, I would say we still have a problem with the defense. FSU and UGA did the same thing to us. Part of it can be chalked up to a lack of complementary play by the offense, but the defense still has to make stops and get off the field.

 

[64 Grad]

To toot my horn after the South Carolina game last year which we won, but were whipped physically, and I said that was our problem. People were slow to pick up on that, but now everybody is aware. Hope DeBoer gets it. Alabama could not match up physically with Georgia or Indiana. Neither actually whipped us physically because we were so bad they did not have to. If Alabama had been competitive they could have whipped us physically similar to what Georgia did in the fourth quarter of the National Championship game they won. The reason that happened is they had more top players than we did in that game.

 

[Krymsonman]

FWIW - Alabama's offense is considered RPO/Pro Style Offense, not "West Coast". Arkansas, TAMU and Kentucky run the West Coast Offense.

Whatever we want to call our offense this year, it was not a thing of beauty. And we look to be a lot more than a "fine line" off of where we should be. Get to work Coach and fix it.

 

[rtr90]

Whatever we want to call our offense this year, it was not a thing of beauty. And we look to be a lot more than a "fine line" off of where we should be. Get to work Coach and fix it.

erratic ... actually I am going to watch some of 3-8, 4-8 seasons in Shula Dubose era still have VHS to understand what is bad and to compare to this kind of bad