Alabama’s 5-0 start is looking increasingly meaningless, and Kalen DeBoer has two straight losses to explain. Georgia handed the Crimson Tide a 20-17 defeat before Tennessee embarrassed them 26-10. For a program with national championship expectations, the offensive collapse is raising serious questions about DeBoer’s coaching. Yet the head coach’s message to his players is simple: things are about to get even more uncomfortable.
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Alabama entered Neyland Stadium ranked No. 6 but played nothing like it. Tennessee settled for four first-half field goals, yet Alabama still trailed 12-10 after managing just 93 yards and going 0-for-7 on third down. The Crimson Tide then went scoreless in the second half, allowing Tennessee to seal the win with a 15-play, 72-yard drive that drained 9:32. Now, DeBoer is warning his younger players about tougher days ahead, even as questions mount about his own leadership.
“I just said it’s going to be really uncomfortable,” DeBoer said during a presser after the Tennessee-Alabama game, according to Bama Central. “It’s not like I felt they didn’t practice. We had a lot of motivation to come back and have a great week and prepare for this game. But moving forward, it’s going to be another level of uncomfortable. A lot of guys haven’t been through that the last year or two. I know they feel it. Our older guys mentioned it a couple weeks ago, just what this stretch is going to be like.”
Alabama opened 5-0 and scored at least 45 points in each game, entering last Saturday as one of the top teams in the country. Now, with two consecutive regular-season losses for the first time since 2007, the Crimson Tide have scored only 27 points in total in their last two matchups.
Against Tennessee, they had 201 yards, 54 rushing yards, four turnovers, 10 penalties, and allowed five sacks. That raises questions about the offense and DeBoer’s coaching in big games. Alabama has now lost five of its seven ranked matchups.
DeBoer’s answer to questions about Alabama’s uncertainty and inconsistency was to take one game at a time rather than get caught up in the bigger picture. At 5-2, the Crimson Tide have little room for error. With Week 7 bringing losses for major programs like Alabama, Texas, and Georgia, DeBoer stressed that every game demands the team’s best. From preparation during the week to making plays, the outcome relies on balance and small moments of the game that can decide a season.
“We talk about life in the SEC,” DeBoer said. “We talk about that each week, and you got to reset and especially life on the road in the SEC. We’re going to have our backs to the wall here. Other teams are in the conference too. The depth of the conference, you’re going to be in for a dogfight every single weekend.”
Week 7 saw No. 1 Georgia suffer an upset loss, 27-24, at home to unranked Auburn on a last-second field goal. No. 7 Texas, which had already lost to Oklahoma a week earlier, lost 27-24 at home to unranked Florida. Alabama fell at Tennessee, as three top-10 SEC teams went down, with two of them losing to unranked opponents.
With a 12-team playoff currently and a 24-team field coming in 2027, nobody has room to slip. Now, Alabama gets Texas A&M next Saturday in Tuscaloosa, followed by a bye week and then a meeting with LSU on November 7. DeBoer believes his team can do it if they catch breaks and stay healthy throughout the season, as Alabama has just two weeks to show improvement.