Head coach Kalen DeBoer sounded more proud than panicked after Alabama’s football team's 28-7 SEC Championship loss to Georgia, even as the result felt like a gut punch to the program’s postseason hopes.
He opened his remarks by tipping his cap to Kirby Smart’s team and then circling back to his own locker room, stressing that the Crimson Tide had “laid it out on the line” to reach Atlanta and that he would “never question the heart, the fight” of a group that battled to an SEC title shot in his second year in charge.
Still, this was not just another defeat. As columnist Kevin Scarbinsky pointed out on X, “FYI, the last time Alabama was shut out: Nov. 18, 2000, by Auburn in the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa.
Mike DuBose's last game as the Alabama head coach. Mike Shula never managed to get shut out as the Alabama head coach.” For three full quarters on Saturday, it looked like DeBoer might join that footnote, with Georgia controlling the line of scrimmage, collapsing pockets, and keeping the Tide off the board until deep into the fourth.
Ty Simpson endured one of his roughest nights as a starter. Under constant heat from Georgia’s front, he finished 19-of-39 for 212 yards with one touchdown and one interception, taking three sacks and watching early special teams and turnover mistakes hand the Bulldogs the kind of cushion they rarely surrender.
Alabama’s offense never truly found rhythm, and the minus-3 rushing total underscored just how thoroughly they were whipped up front.
The broader picture is no less tense. The loss drops Alabama to 10-3 and hands the selection committee a blunt data point right before the College Football Playoff field is set.
With programs like Notre Dame, Miami, and BYU lurking in the at-large mix, a blowout on championship weekend is the last image Alabama wanted on the screen, even if DeBoer insists this team’s full body of work deserves consideration.
Whatever the committee decides, the night in Atlanta will be remembered less for the final margin and more for how close Alabama came to the wrong kind of history. DeBoer’s challenge now is to make sure this near-shutout becomes a turning point rather than a sign of slippage in Tuscaloosa.
