Paul Finebaum calls out SEC powerhouse after College Football Playoff loss

While the College Football Playoff will result in only one team going home happy, there are varied degrees of dissatisfaction for the teams that go home early. While a one-score loss can leave a team wondering about a play or a call, a humiliating beatdown can have wider implications.

That's certainly the case with the Alabama Crimson Tide. A week after Kalen DeBoer had apparently righted the Alabama ship by winning his first CFP game at Alabama after trailing Oklahoma 17-0, the roof fell in on his second Playoff battle with the Tide.

Paul Finebaum didn't mince words for the beatdown that Alabama took-- or for its significance. Discussing the 38-3 loss on The Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum certainly didn't minimize the loss, calling it "a significant and seminal moment in modern history."

"Indiana just beat them to a pulp," said Finebaum. "Alabama just quit. I mean, Alabama basically says, 'Let's get this game over with.' The final score was 38-3. Could have been whatever."

Finebaum noted that it was mathematically speaking, the worst loss in 25 years for Alabama, but he called it "the worst loss in history." He continued, "What got Alabama fans the most is that the Alabama team, coached by Kalen DeBoer who came over from Washington, was beaten down by a Nick Saban disciple in classic Nick Saban fashion."

Indiana outgained Alabama 407-193. They outrushed the Tide 215-23. Indiana was 9 for 14 on third down while holding Alabama to 3 of 13 on third and fourth down attempts. The numbers only underlined the superiority of former Saban assistant Curt Cignetti's Indiana squad.

And with one stunning defeat, a recent Alabama triumph seemed to be reversed. Discussing the Oklahoma win a week earlier, Finebaum now concluded that it "does not mean one thing."

Keeping DeBoer from going to Michigan, which had been a persistent rumor had the Tide taken a loss to Oklahoma, now seems like less an accomplishment and more of a punchline around Tuscaloosa. "I can't tell you how maybe people I've run into over the weekend saying, 'Is it too late for him to go to Michigan?'" said Finebaum.

DeBoer almost inevitable set himself up for comparative failure by following the brilliance of Saban's Alabama tenure. Ater a 6-6 record in Saban's first year at Alabama, 2007, the Tide did not finish a season out of the AP top ten for the rest of Saban's tenure. They lost three games only once, in 2010, and posted a pair of undefeated national championship seasons. Alabama also posted six unbeaten SEC seasons under Saban.

DeBoer's 9-4 and 11-4 seasons, by comparison, don't stand up well. He's lost four conference games and four non-conference games in two years while Saban lost nine total non-conference games between 2008 and 2023. Finebaum called that Indiana loss "probably the undoing of Kalen DeBoer" and his performance so far suggests it may be an accurate assessment.