Alabama Crimson Tide news and notes from Monday and Tuesday, September 1st and 2nd.
Kalen DeBoer continues to get ripped for Alabama's performance against Saturday
Folks are coming from far and wide to dance on Alabama's grave following a season-opening loss to Florida State on Saturday. That includes plenty of folks who have ripped Kalen DeBoer to shreds in the aftermath.
One of the biggest critics of DeBoer was ESPN's Dan Orlovsky, who questioned whether the Tide's head coach would even make it through September based on the lack of effort he saw from the team during Saturday's game. It's fair to call out the effort, but questioning - after one loss - whether a coach in his second year with a program would get fired before getting through the first entire month of year two is a bit much.
Of course, DeBoer doesn't often do himself any favors. He looked a bit befuddled during his media availability on Monday. He also mentioned wanting the team to play with more of an edge, something Alabama fans have wanted to see out of his coaching since he took over in Tuscaloosa.
Nick Saban reacts to Alabama's loss
Nick Saban was in Chapel Hill on Monday night for Bill Belichick's debut against TCU. He, of course, was asked about the Crimson Tide's embarrassing performance against Florida State.
Saban took a mostly diplomatic approach as you might expect, but he didn't shy away from expressing disappointment:
“For me, and a lot of Alabama fans, the disappointment is that Florida State dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”
Rece Davis reveals he kept Alabama off his AP ballot
Rece Davis, an Alabama alumnus, also had some harsh words for his alma mater on Monday night while on the call of TCU/North Carolina. In the fourth quarter of the Horned Frogs' blowout win, Davis revealed that he kept the Crimson Tide off his AP ballot after the two-touchdown loss in Tallahassee.
While Davis wasn't alone, the votes didn't quite carry enough weight to keep Alabama out of the poll entirely.
Alabama takes a big drop in polls
Alabama remained in both the AP and Coaches Polls that came out on Tuesday, but just barely. Alabama dropped to No. 20 in the Coaches and No. 21 in the AP Poll. It's the lowest ranking in either poll for the Tide since the 2008 preseason.
It did, however, keep a major streak intact, at least for now. Alabama has now been ranked in the AP Poll for 280 consecutive weeks, which is the second-longest streak in AP Poll history.