Alabama completely dismantled UL Monroe on Saturday night, bludgeoning a Warhawks team that, unfortunately, had to bear the full weight of the frustration the Crimson Tide felt from last week's disappointing effort in a 31-17 loss to Florida State.
Alabama completely dominated an overmatched UL Monroe team. The Tide scored touchdowns on its first six possessions of the game, taking a 42-0 lead to halftime. Ty Simpson completed all 17 of his passes, which was a program record.
The game was never competitive. Alabama fans who were downtrodden over last week's loss tried to talk themselves into the Crimson Tide potentially being in for a dogfight. Perhaps they would have been correct if DeBoer's team brought forth the same effort that traveled with them a week ago. Fortunately, it looks like they left that behind at Doak Campbell.
From the opening whistle, Alabama played fast, frantic, and physical. The defense was fast to the football. They didn't play the game on their toes. They attacked. Over and over again. UL Monroe finished the first half with just 43 total yards of offense. Alabama finished the first half with 42 points.
Blowing out an inferior opponent certainly does nothing to get rid of the memory of last week's debacle. But Alabama did what they had to do. They gave the fans what they wanted to see. They played with effort, toughness, pride. They played like Alabama football is expected to play every single week.
Kalen DeBoer will get a one-week reprieve, but his seat remains uncomfortable
The blowout win doesn't remove DeBoer from the hot seat. In the grand scheme of things, it will mean nothing. Alabama fans will not look back on a September win over UL Monroe as anything but an expected result. But it's a nice jumping-off point for a team that endured a ton of (deserved) criticism from their Week 1 performance.
Alabama can build off this. They can build some momentum, some confidence heading into their second opportunity against a Power-4 opponent next week when Wisconsin comes to town. They can use that game to build toward the game that keeps creeping up. All roads lead to Athens at the end of the month.
That game will determine whether Alabama has turned things around or not. Because Georgia will expose any lingering bad habits. But that's still a few weeks away. This team can only stay present. Focus on what they can control. Celebrate this performance and quickly get back to work to prepare for Wisconsin next week.
For one week at least, Alabama looked like the team it was billed to be in the preseason. Only time will tell if that was fool's gold or if they've truly turned the corner.