For Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide's Week 6 game against Vanderbilt is not about revenge. Instead, he is more focused on maintaining his team's current championship trajectory.
With College GameDay in Tuscaloosa for the massive top-25 matchup, DeBoer visited the set to talk to the crew. When asked how last season's loss impacts Saturday's meeting, DeBoer admitted he “learned” from the experience, but added that he admires his team's ability to constantly adapt.
“I think in everything you do, you have to learn from your experiences,” DeBoer said. “Obviously, the positive ones, those are easy to learn from, but you have to learn from your negative ones as well. Our guys have done a great job taking from that and taking from what we've experienced this year, too. There's been some ups and downs, obviously. Again, I use the word ‘challenging' energy into the right thing and focusing on us. That's really where we've kept it.”
"In everything you do you have to learn from your experiences..
The positive ones are easy to learn from but you have to learn from your negative ones as well..
We're just really focused on us" ~ @KalenDeBoer #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/UsnwAkFve0
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 4, 2025
The 2025 matchup bears many similarities to the now-iconic meeting in 2024. Alabama enters the game with a top-10 ranking coming off a massive win over Georgia, making it a double-digit favorite against Vanderbilt.
However, the main difference is Vanderbilt's standing entering the game. The Commodores were just 2-2 when they welcomed the Crimson Tide to Nashville in 2024, but they carry a pristine 5-0 record into Tuscaloosa this season. Clark Lea has led his team to a double-digit victory each week, giving them a No. 16 ranking in the Week 6 AP poll entering the matchup with Alabama.
Kalen DeBoer needs to lead Alabama to win over Vanderbilt
Although Vanderbilt enters Week 6 with a much higher standing than it did a year ago, the game is still very much a must-win for DeBoer. The criticism and embarrassment that the Alabama football coach faced following the Tide's loss in 2024 will only resurface if they do not improve to 4-1 by the end of the night.
DeBoer got Alabama back on track with a 24-21 win over Georgia in Week 5, but he still has a large portion of the fan base against him. Many fans are still bitter over his 9-4 season in 2024, a year that Crimson Tide fans felt should have ended with a national title.
Losing to No. 16 Vanderbilt would not end Alabama's season, but there is too much on the line for DeBoer. The expectation in Tuscaloosa is that the Tide beat a team like Vanderbilt, and suffering consecutive losses would only reopen that can of worms.
