Alabama football needed this one.
Kalen DeBoer needed it more.
In a hard-hitting, fisticuffed-filled 89th edition of the annual Iron Bowl, the Crimson Tide notched a 28-14 home victory over archrival Auburn on Saturday.
Players rejoiced − quarterback Jalen Milroe was moved to tears in the postgame locker room, per Yea Alabama’s Aaron Suttles − and rightfully so. In this series, wins warrant celebration no matter the circumstances. And circumstances in 2024 boiled down to this: Alabama is likely headed to a non-playoff bowl game after the win over Auburn, which is exactly where the Crimson Tide would’ve gone had it lost. From a postseason standpoint, this Iron Bowl didn’t come with high stakes for the team.
But it absolutely came with high stakes for DeBoer, Alabama’s first-year coach.
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A loss to Auburn to finish with an 8-4 thud, when the Crimson Tide was on the cusp of a College Football Playoff berth just a week earlier, would’ve left a black smear on DeBoer’s first season that little if anything could’ve washed out. A Week 13 embarrassment at Oklahoma, 24-3, diminished CFP hopes and rendered this team without the rudder of postseason glory. Likely elimination from playoff contention is a gut punch that leaves plenty of teams out of breath the next week. Take LSU, for example: The week after Alabama knocked LSU out of playoff contention, the Tigers looked shell-shocked and were unable to rebound in a loss to Florida.
This week, DeBoer was faced with the same challenge in motivating his team.
Yes, the Iron Bowl itself is supposed to be motivation enough. But Alabama isn’t chock full of in-state players anymore. Only four of UA’s Iron Bowl starters −…
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