Alabama had never crossed paths with Indiana. But in their first-ever tango, Kalen DeBoer stepped straight into the deep end. A second-quarter Rose Bowl gamble backfired hard, turning up the thermostat on his seat in Tuscaloosa. Now, fans already want him out of the door. 

DeBoer wasted no time putting his stamp on the game. On fourth-and-1, rather than punting the ball away, he chose to keep the offense on the field even though Alabama was deep in its own territory, the 34-yard line. The play failed. 

DeBoer tried a shovel pass, a short, quick forward flip, from Daniel Hill to Germie Bernard, but the defense stopped Bernard just short of the first-down marker. Four snaps later, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza found Charlie Becker for a 21-yard score, pushing Indiana’s early cushion to 10-0.

Against a team that rarely beats itself, spotting Indiana a two-score advantage early was flirting with disaster. However, the decision itself wasn’t without logic. Curt Cignetti’s squad had just bled the clock on a 16-play, 84-yard march that ended in a field goal, and a quick three-and-out would’ve sent DeBoer’s defense right back into the fire. But the process was clunky and the call predictable. 

DeBoer teased a wildcat with Hill, forcing Cignetti to call a timeout. The Tide then tried to sell punt, sneaking Ty Simpson into the upback spot. But the Hoosiers stayed home and shut it down.

Definitely, Cignetti’s squad has had an amazing offense this year. They even got a Heisman trophy out of it. However, their USP has been the defense. Giving up just 10.8 points per game, this defense has been stingier than any Nick Saban Alabama unit by the numbers, except the legendary 2011 unit. 

Unprepared and unapologetically accountable, DeBoer took the blame for Alabama’s lackluster first half.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been in this spot before,” Alabama head coach told ESPN at halftime. “We’ve got to come out of the locker room. The momentum is not in our favor right now. I know what our team is made of, and I know what our character is, so we’ll come out fighting.”

Alabama found itself staring at a 17-0 hole against the Oklahoma Sooners in the first half of its CFP road opener. But they roared back before halftime and rattled off 27 straight points on the way to a 34-24 win, the biggest comeback the CFP has ever seen.

However, the fans have dropped the final verdict for DeBoer and for Alabama to rev up their search for a new head coach. 

Fans are ready with a report card for Kalen DeBoer

Back in 2024, still new to his head coaching role, DeBoer’s Alabama scored single digits against Oklahoma, 24-3. That’s when fans predicted that it was the end of DeBoer’s stint. A year later, things are the same for the head coach.“Kalen DeBoer should be fired right now for a stupid a** call like that,” wrote a fan.

Indiana has shot up to No. 2 in each of the last two seasons in the Big Ten on defense. “Kalen DeBoer trying to force the run game with his shitty run offense against a good defense because his jersey says Alabama and their jersey says IU,” wrote a fan. That’s the cost DeBoer paid by not respecting the opponent.

Calling a play on 4th-and-1 is risky because you’re betting the entire possession on a single yard. “Kalen Deboer just choked away the game already. Why call for a play on the 4th and 1?” another frustrated fan commented. DeBoer did it after knowing Indiana sits atop the nation in red zone defense, allowing touchdowns on just 27 percent of opponents’ trips. 

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The Crimson Tide sputtered early, averaging only 3.9 yards per snap, failing to reach the red zone and scraping together just 93 total yards in the first half. Yet then the head coach took the risk. “Kalen DeBoer ******* up beyond belief going for it on his own 35. Dude will never hear the end of that if they lose. Hoosiers smell blood in the water up 10-0. Danger zone time for the Crimson Tide,” a fan commented. 

As former national championship-winning Alabama head coach Gene Stallings graded the Rose Bowl as the “granddaddy” of all bowl games, this was the ultimate test for DeBoer. “I know this is how he coaches, but that’s just not a good call by DeBoer,” a fan graded DeBoer.

Can DeBoer’s team give him that chest-out moment, mirroring the Oklahoma comeback glory?