Would you look at that. Everybody’s so happy, and committed, no less.
Except there’s one teeny-weeny problem with Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne this week expressing their undying love for each other and the Alabama program.
The loud and proud on the periphery with more power than you’d think — the influential and wildly supportive Alabama fan base — still isn’t feeling it.
In fact, we’ve reached a critical crossroads moment for a fan base that has been spoiled by Nick Saban’s greatness, and doesn’t mind admitting it. They see the commitment from DeBoer and Byrne, despite DeBoer’s name surfacing with the Michigan coaching search.
The problem is the results.
And wouldn’t you know it, here comes the main culprit: Oklahoma.
Two years ago, Alabama needed a win over the worst Oklahoma team in more than three decades to clinch a College Football Playoff spot — and lost by 21.
A year later in the rematch in Tuscaloosa — in a game that can only be described as the second-ugliest in DeBoer’s two seasons (the first being the first loss to OU) — Alabama allowed a team with barely 200 yards off offense take a critical November win.
Two season-defining games, two collapses from Alabama, and by proxy, DeBoer.
So when Alabama arrives in Norman on Friday evening for another shot at Oklahoma in the first round of the CFP, there’s much more at stake than moving onto the quarterfinals against No.1 Indiana.
The buy-in with DeBoer from the Alabama faithful is beginning to wane. Lose to the Sooners again, and it will quickly become legitimate anxiety.
Then who cares if DeBoer decides to leave for Ann Arbor?
“Just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said earlier this week. “Just all the things that we continue to build on. Love the progress.”
I ask you, who among us really believes the 100,000-plus who pack Bryant-Denny Stadium are satiated by “progress”?
They bathed annually in the luxury of Saban for 17 years. Six national championships since 2009, nine national title game appearances, and eight CFP appearances in the 10 years of its existence.
You think they care about progress?
This, everyone, is the blessing and curse of the Saban experience. Unprecedented success, unrealistic expectations.
They can put up with a defense that’s not like the early years, when Saban and then-defensive coordinator Kirby Smart were overwhelming the sport with a roster full of high-round NFL draft picks. The defense had fallen off in the final years under Saban, anyway, since Smart left for Georgia and impact recruits along the defensive line followed.
What the Alabama fans can’t put up with is an offense that doesn’t produce. You can’t go from Jalen Hurts, to Tua Tagovailoa, to Mac Jones, to Bryce Young, to who knows what on a weekly basis from the most important position on the field.
Ty Simpson can’t look like the Heisman Trophy leader one week, and struggle to complete 50% of his throws the next. You can’t have a quarterback with arguably the best receiving corps in the nation struggle for much of November.
Especially if the head coach is an offensive savant, who has developed elite players at quarterback everywhere he has coached.
You better believe Alabama fans see a team that misfired much of November, and frankly, was given a pass to the CFP because there’s no way the SEC team with the best regular season record can’t make the CFP (who knows why, but that’s another story for another time).
We’ve reached critical mass here, and nothing DeBoer and Byrne say can do anything about it. This is about wins and losses now, and heaven help DeBoer if Friday night ends with another poor performance (and loss) to the Sooners.
Three games against Oklahoma, three games as the betting favorite. Three games with the better roster.
It’s not that hard to see where this goes from here if Alabama can’t find a way to beat Oklahoma. No amount of public declarations of support will make it any easier for a fan base that includes deep-pocket boosters — who can and have wielded influence.
How do you think Saban got to Alabama in the first place, after publicly declaring he was staying in the NFL and wouldn’t be the Alabama coach?
DeBoer was asked earlier this week about Oklahoma players celebrating last month on the Alabama logo, taking pictures after the 23-21 victory and later singing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Dixieland Delight’ in the postgame locker room. An insulting move that further underscored the distance between You Know Who.
DeBoer said he wasn’t aware of it, then later admitted he had seen “something” about the incident.
“They’ve obviously got the better side of things the last two times we played,” DeBoer said. “And that’s really where our focus is at.”
Saban often spoke of deeds, not words. Anyone can say anything, but it’s always about results.
Now more than ever for DeBoer.