By Kyle Golik
I don’t envy Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer whatsoever. I get DeBoer is an extremely successful coach and his resume speaks for itself. DeBoer has won nearly 90% of his games dating back to his days at Sioux Falls in the NAIA. I get DeBoer has won three NAIA national championships, won Washington the last great Pac-12 Championship last season taking the Huskies to the College Football Playoffs National Championship. I get all the good DeBoer has accomplished, but Saturday is the test of tests.
I get Alabama’s biggest rival is the team on The Plains in the Iron Bowl, but the throne Alabama has resided on that Nick Saban ascended to, presided over, and abdicated earlier this year with his retirement is now on the line.
Saban literally raised Georgia head coach Kirby Smart from a pup to being the championship hunting dog every hunter would want. Smart has guided the Bulldogs to three College Football Playoff National Championship appearances, splitting two with the Crimson Tide. The first will forever be known in the annals of college football as 2nd and 26. The latter was avenging a SEC Championship loss that ended with Kelee Ringo’s exclamation point on a pick-six.
Smart has built a program that has been rivaling that of Alabama. It won back-to-back national championships, 42 straight regular season games, and has gone 49-2 in their previous 51 games. The two losses were against Alabama in the 2021 and 2023 SEC Championship Games, the latter thwarting Georgia’s hopes at a three-peat.
What made Saban the greatest is not necessarily the national championships he won, but moreover he won the biggest game seemingly all the time. Saban won 104 games against ranked opponents, beating the record of Penn State’s Joe Paterno comfortably who only had 86. Saban doing it in the fraction of the time of Paterno only adds to the legend.
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Saban went 5-1 against Smart, and Alabama was the team standing in the way of Georgia from truly taking the throne.
The first time Alabama’s position at the top of college football was truly threatened came in last season’s SEC Championship Game. I consider how Saban had Alabama prepped to win that game among his five best during his time at Alabama.
What plagued Alabama in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship was injuries at the wide receiver position with John Metchie and Jameson Williams. It evens out for Georgia, who themselves were wounded in the 2023 SEC Championship game with injuries to Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers.
What Alabama was able to do was dominate in the trenches, force Georgia’s offense off schedule and set the tone early. It was classic Saban playing chess to Smart’s checkers.
Now it is up to DeBoer, he has talked a good game thus far in Tuscaloosa and in his defense what else was he going to do? Alabama has taken care of business thus far. Outside of the three plus quarters South Florida had the Tide on upset alert, Alabama has flat-out dominated this season. But the thing is that is the expectation and standard.
The next phase of DeBoer’s test is can he live up to the great expectations and winning the big games is what he will or anyone for that matter is measured by at Alabama. DeBoer won’t be on the hot seat if Alabama loses on Saturday, but it will begin the comparison and while sometimes it is said that comparison is the thief of joy, it is only natural. I don’t envy DeBoer win or lose, because the only joy he will have is if Alabama wins. If not, the questions begin.
