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A rollercoaster first season for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama is essentially over.
Following a stunning 24-3 loss to unranked Oklahoma for its third loss of the season, Alabama (8-3) is almost assuredly out of the College Football Playoff race unless chaos unfolds the next two weeks. A trip to the SEC Championship is off the table. Next week’s Iron Bowl will be devoid of its usual national hype, though the Tigers are coming off a big upset of No. 15 Texas A&M of their own.
The highs of this season, like a win over Georgia, were very high. But the lows were historically low. DeBoer had Alabama ranked as the No. 1 team in the country only to lose the next week to unranked Vanderbilt, the type of shocking upset that never happened under Nick Saban. Saturday night’s loss in Norman was, in some respects, even worse.
The 24-3 loss to the Sooners was Alabama’s largest loss since 2018 and its largest loss to an unranked team since 1998 when Mike DuBose lost 38-7 to Virginia Tech in the Music City Bowl. It is the first time Alabama has three regular-season losses since 2010. Given the stakes attached, it was an inexcusably poor performance in an important spot. Most frustratingly, Oklahoma dusted off the plan that Vanderbilt executed so well against the Crimson Tide, and DeBoer and his staff still had zero answers for it.
Sooners QB Jackson Arnold, who was benched earlier this season, ran all over Alabama for 131 yards. On the flip side, Oklahoma took away Jalen Milroe’s running ability (7 yards on 15 carries) and forced him to try to win through the air. Milroe regressed again, throwing three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and looked completely helpless for much of the game against Brent Venables’ defense. The offensive line, a…
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Author : John Talty
Publish date : 2024-11-24 17:32:00
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