The journey of Alabama’s season didn’t change much with loss to Oklahoma, but vibes were harpooned and perception polluted.
Kalen DeBoer will face daunting pressure in Iron Bowl.
Alabama retains control of path, but national title destination feels further away.
In the grand journey of Alabama’s season, this loss to Oklahoma didn’t immediately change much. The Crimson Tide remain charted for the Southeastern Conference championship game, so long as they win the Iron Bowl. They’re still pointed toward the College Football Playoff, too. Win the Iron Bowl and win in Atlanta, and Alabama would repair a lot of the short-term damage it absorbed to its playoff seeding.
And in another sense, this 23-21 turtling up at Bryant-Denny Stadium changed everything, because everything about Kalen DeBoer’s second Alabama season is baked in perception and vibes and creating the image he’s suitable to be Nick Saban’s heir.
Losses like this harpoon vibes and pollute perception, because Alabama fans will tell themselves Saban wouldn’t have lost this game, because GOATs become invincible in retirement. Never mind Saban lost two games in his second Alabama season or Saban did start occasionally losing games like this in the final few years of his career.
This loss ended the notion DeBoer cannot falter at home, or he’s become a daunting force of destruction in a menacing outfit. He’s just a guy in a black hoodie when Alabama commits four turnovers to lose a game in which it gained nearly twice as many years as its opponent.
This loss damaged the goodwill DeBoer had built throughout an eight-game win streak, because the price for coaching Alabama is knowing a single loss can offset several wins on the scales of balance.
The Iron Bowl in two weeks will become the biggest game of DeBoer’s tenure. Auburn’s record says it’s one of the SEC’s weakest teams, and still everything I know about the Iron Bowl tells me the Tigers will fight at Jordan-Hare Stadium as if life itself is on the line and not just Alabama’s postseason fate. An Alabama win would restore some order and tend to some angst. A loss would light a powder keg. Two straight seasons of missing a 12-team playoff would change the DEFCON level.
This loss also singed the idea of Ty Simpson seizing the Heisman Trophy. Simpson is the best guy going for an offense that lacks ground support, but faced with solving one of the nation’s best defenses, Alabama’s quarterback contributed two turnovers and no fourth-quarter magic.
Saban warned on “College GameDay” Alabama’s lack of balance made it vulnerable. The offensive line doesn’t exert control. Every Saturday when Saban shares sage words on a TV set, he provides a visual reminder to everyone watching he’s no longer Alabama’s coach.
On Alabama’s best day, it could beat most of the teams that’ll qualify for the playoff. On a blunder-filled day like this one, it could lose to nearly any playoff team.
“Really disappointed in the outcome,” DeBoer said. “We played a lot of great snaps out there, but, the turnover battle, obviously got killed there. That became the game.”
That, and a missed field goal that affected Alabama’s fate.
We were silly if we thought a second Alabama loss wasn’t eventually coming while it navigated a schedule that rates among the nation’s toughest.
Alabama retains control of its course, but the destination of a national championship feels further away.
In a broader sense, this is just the new way of life in the SEC. Good teams lose to other good teams every Saturday, but, at Alabama, coaches and teams are not judged only against their conference peers. They’re judged against Alabama’s past.
This became another Saturday when the present didn’t live up.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
