Kalen DeBoer Has 'No Doubt' How Alabama Will Respond, but Team Has No Choice

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Despite a much different final score and offensive output, the opening minutes of Alabama's 23-21 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday night felt a lot like last season's matchup with the Sooners, which turned out to be the nail in Alabama's College Football Playoff coffin.

This is a much better Oklahoma team, and it isn't a bad loss for the Crimson Tide. Losing to the Sooners this year doesn't carry the same finality for Alabama's postseason chances, as it is Crimson Tide's first SEC loss, but it does eliminate Alabama's opportunity for another SEC regular season do-over.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said in his postgame press conference that he has "no doubt" how his team will respond. At this point, his team doesn't have a choice if it wants to avoid another disappointing November under DeBoer.

"The guys are going to fight," DeBoer said. "I know the character of the team."

Alabama (8-2, 6-1 SEC) beat Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2 SEC) in nearly every category on Saturday night, except the final score. The difference was the turnover margin. For the first time this season, the Alabama defense did not force a turnover, and Alabama had three costly turnovers (two on offense, one on special teams.)

Despite the negative turnover margin, Alabama got the ball back with 7:06 left, trailing by two points. The Tide felt confident in the defense's ability to get a stop, but the offense's drive ran over six minutes off the clock without scoring any points. Oklahoma got the ball back with 50 seconds left to kneel out the clock and leave Tuscaloosa with a victory.

"That’s the part that’s just really frustrating for everyone is that you win the time of possession, you win everything pretty much, total yards, and you come away with a loss," DeBoer said. "Again, they’re a good football team, and when you give them those chances, that’s what you get.”

The Crimson Tide has proven once already this season that it can respond to a loss. Alabama got embarrassed at Florida State in the season opener before reeling off eight straight wins, a streak that was snapped by the Sooners on Saturday night. During that eight-game win streak, Alabama beat four straight ranked opponents and climbed as high as No. 4 in the national polls.

"It’s just like Week 1," Alabama defensive lineman and team captain Tim Keenan III said. "We back hated by everybody and everything. We’re in a familiar spot. We’ve just got to go back to work and get better.”

With the CFP expanded to 12 teams, the loss to Florida State didn't end Alabama's season, but it did lessen the margin for error before SEC play even began. The loss to the Sooners doesn't eliminate Alabama either, but the Tide can't afford another loss in the regular season.

Alabama linebacker and fellow team captain Deontae Lawson said the team will "empty the tank" in practice over the next two weeks.

"I know how this group is," Lawson added. "We’re so ready to respond to adversity. I just know the energy in the building tomorrow is going to be great, and we’re just going to do everything we can to get better. That’s all our focus is.”

Center Parker Brailsford "definitely" thinks Alabama will respond the right way and says it will be a great thing to watch.

The only two regular season games remaining on Alabama schedule are FCS foe Eastern Illinois (3-8) at home and a road trip to Auburn (4-6, 1-6 SEC) for the Iron Bowl. On paper, those should both be easy wins for the Crimson Tide, but Auburn will be fighting for bowl eligibility under an interim head coach and playing at Jordan-Hare Stadium hasn't been a strong point for Alabama throughout the program's history.

The CFP selection committee has said and proven that it won't punish teams for losing in the conference championship game. The SEC standings are a mess and the two championship spots will come down to the final week of the regular season, but Alabama could theoretically pick up a third loss in the SEC title game and still make the SEC field. However, Alabama won't even get to Atlanta if it can't handle business against Auburn.

Either way, Alabama wouldn't really want to experiment with a loss in the SEC title game. Alabama was lined up for a first-round bye before losing to Oklahoma. Now, the Tide could still earn a first-round bye if it were to win out, or it might be a first-round host in that scenario. If Alabama wins the next two games, but loses in the SEC title game, it could have to travel for the opening round of the CFP or miss out entirely.

Conference champions no longer automatically earn a first round bye like the first year of the 12-team CFP. Instead it just goes to the four highest-rated teams. But in last season's format, Alabama was in line for a spot in Atlanta and a first-round bye before losing to the Sooners on the road.

That loss kept Alabama out of the field for just the third time since the CFP's inception in 2014. Alabama made the four-team field eight of 10 times from 2014 to 2023, winning the national title in three of those trips

There was a grace period for DeBoer in his first season after taking over for Nick Saban, but with the championship-level expectations in Tuscaloosa, there won't be any grace extended DeBoer's way if Alabama blows a CFP berth for the second straight November, just a warmed-up seat.

The sky isn't falling in Tuscaloosa. Alabama's defense against Oklahoma proved why it is one of the best teams in the country and can compete for a national title. The Crimson Tide players said all the right things after the loss, including Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, who is "very confident" in how the Crimson Tide will respond to Saturday's loss. Now, they just have to prove it again on the field.

"That’s all I’m going to say," Simpson said. "Gotta win out now.”

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