If there's anyone who hears from the common Alabama football fan, it's Paul Finebaum. And he's heard enough to know that Kalen DeBoer is in trouble.
Following the Crimson Tide's convincing defeat at the hands of Florida State, which went 2-10 last year, the Alabama football fan base has expressed its dissatisfaction, to put it lightly. Many have called for DeBoer's job, pointing to a trend established in the 9-4 season he turned in in 2024, which featured a historic loss to Vanderbilt, as well as defeats against rival Tennessee, a poor Oklahoma team, and a similarly middling Michigan in the bowl game.
While it would light the college football world ablaze if Alabama did fire DeBoer, Finebaum, who has been covering SEC football for a long time, indicated he's never seen anything like this.
“It’ll be the easiest four hours of my life,” Paul Finebaum said on ESPN's ‘Get Up' of his Monday call-in show [h/t On3]. “They will be calling for his firing. That is not going to be a surprise. I’ve already heard from longtime Alabama people who say, ‘I want him out.’ A local columnist is already calling for his head. This is unprecedented.”
Finebaum continued, saying that DeBoer “looks clueless at times,” and that Alabama has “probably the second most-talented roster” in the nation and should be a national title contender.
“It feels like a house of cards,” he said.
The season-opening loss out of conference does introduce a few obstacles to the Crimson Tide's path to the College Football Playoff. Last season, when Alabama ended up on the outside looking in, it was because of three losses in the SEC, two of which to teams that finished the regular season with 6-6 records.
This year, with the loss to Florida State, Alabama would seemingly have to go 6-2 at worst in conference play (or 7-1 if Wisconsin pulls off the upset in two weeks) to make it into the CFP. That is a tough proposition, though; the Tide's SEC opener is at Georgia on Sept. 27, which might prove to be too much too soon for Alabama.
Fortunately for the Tide, they have Vanderbilt, Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma at home this season. The road games, in addition to Georgia, are Missouri, South Carolina, and rival Auburn.
This weekend, Alabama hosts Louisiana Monroe, which famously upset the Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Nick Saban's first year as head coach in 2007.
