Kalen DeBoer is past politicking now. Alabama made the College Football Playoff and will face Oklahoma in Norman on Dec. 19.
Yes, he said, there will be some motivation drawn from those that argued the Crimson Tide shouldn’t have gotten in. But more so there’s a sense of urgency.
“You got to bring your A game, or there won’t be another day,” DeBoer said in an interview with Bama247 on Wednesday. “But we’ve lived in that world all season long. So having an edge to us and knowing how to channel the energy into the right things, we’re pretty good at that.”
This Alabama team has been defined by its resiliency. It got back off the mat after what otherwise might have been a debilitating 14-point loss at Florida State to open the season, responding with six straight wins, including four consecutive victories over ranked opponents without a break — a first in the SEC’s long and storied history.
It came from behind to beat South Carolina on the road and took care of business against LSU with a double-digit win. Losing by 2 to Oklahoma stung, but it bounced back and went on the road to Auburn, converting a fourth-and-2 with less than 5 minutes to go, to win the Iron Bowl and finish the regular season 10-2.
A 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game last Saturday made Alabama’s playoff selection more dramatic than it should have been. There were mitigating factors, of course. About a dozen players were either out or playing through injuries, including starters Jam Miller, Josh Cuevas and LT Overton. DeBoer said his piece about that after the game.
A strength of this team has been its depth, though. Forty-one players have started at least one game this season, and 47 players have taken 50 or more snaps on offense or defense.
“That’s helped us be in the hunt to where we’re at right now. Now, we got to have the execution be a little bit better,” he said. “That depth we created has allowed it to not fall apart at times during the season. Now, we got to use it to be a strength to go and mesh it all together and execute at an even a higher level.”
I suggested that they leaned on a number of reserves, essentially limping into the SEC Championship Game.
DeBoer said he looks at it differently.
“Because there’s things that we know we didn’t do at the standard and at the level we need to do it, and that’s what’s disappointing,” he explained. “But I also know that we have been right there at times, even in the latter half of the season, when it appears and people want to talk about us not being at our best. It’s right. It’s true. But we’re not that far off. It’s never as bad as you think. It’s never as good as you think.
“When people thought it was really good, we weren’t that far from being where we’re at now. It’s the opposite, too. We’re not that far from bringing it all together and knocking it out of the park.”
I asked if he’s confident he can make a run at a national championship, and what needs to happen to get there?
“I think there’s so much parity,” he said. “I think we have a team that could do it. I mean, even going on the road, as hard as that’s going to be, we’ve shown through our 4-0 record in SEC games on the road that we got the grit, we got the talent. Matchups are a part of it. It all kind of depends. And you kind of know what that road looks like if you continue on down it. But I feel like we got the pieces to get it done.
“But, again, like I’ve said probably three or four times already, we got to do it.”
I wrote on Sunday that this team will go as far as Ty Simpson takes it. There’s no avoiding the regression in his play of late. He was first in the SEC in passing efficiency from Sept. 6-Oct. 25. He was 10th from Oct. 26-Dec. 7.
For the record, DeBoer once again did not say Simpson is injured.
I asked him, though, whether he sees Simpson like he sees the team as a whole — to use his words, not far from bringing it all together? Does it feel close?
“It should,” he said. “I mean, he’s not that far off. Just like if everyone else does their job at a little bit higher level, it will make him look better, too. The great ones raise the level of everyone around him. And that’s not just talking about our quarterback; that’s talking about every other guy on the football team, offense and defense.”
DeBoer’s not saying it, but I will: that’s talking about the offensive line and running game. Allowing 12 pressures was bad. Finishing with -3 rushing yards was worse. And that’s to say nothing of the six players who dropped passes.
Simpson needs to bounce back. But so does the entire offense.
The good news is this team is used to having its back against the wall and has responded well to adversity before.
“We’ve been through — we can’t say it all — but you can say we’ve been through a lot, and we’re still here,” DeBoer said. “We’re here. We’re where we wanted to be. Yeah, would you love to have had a first round bye? Sure, yeah. But, you know, the way that they fought and scratched, that can’t be taken away from who we are. And just always it’s understanding the fine line between winning and losing. The fine line between really good execution and falling short on production. It’s a fine line. It’s exactly that And so just got to be a little bit better in all the ways. And there’s ways we can do that. There’s ways that we see that we can do it. And so now you just gotta make it happen.”
