One of the most impressive feats for a head coach is getting a team to refocus after a loss. It's impressive because it's not easy. Even though today's landscape tells you that one loss - no matter how devastating - can't derail an entire season, the sky sure looks like it's coming down when it inevitably happens.
Some coaches are able to get things fixed in the face of adversity. Others cannot. Kalen DeBoer did, and he deserves credit for it.
Alabama lost its season opener against Florida State on the road. They lost to a hungrier team. They didn't just lose; they got bullied and embarrassed. It looked like Alabama's season was over before it ever really got started. The obituaries were written. Reports of booster unrest hit the airwaves. DeBoer replacement candidates were debated.
Some even questioned whether DeBoer - amidst his second season replacing the GOAT - would last through September.
After the loss to Florida State, Alabama has won five straight games, including three straight over ranked SEC opponents in Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Missouri. Alabama is now ranked at No. 6 in the latest AP Poll, and looks like a legitimate contender for both an SEC and National Championship.
The season easily could have gone in a different direction after the performance against Florida State. DeBoer and the locker room made a choice not to let it.
Different choices were made in Tallahassee and Happy Valley.
Florida State and Penn State show where Alabama's season could have headed
Florida State was the toast of college football after beating Alabama in the opener. They started 3-0, bludgeoning overmatched opponents in East Texas A&M and Kent State after that. Then came an overtime loss to Virginia on a Friday night. That loss begot another and another. They lost to Miami the following week. The Seminoles dropped a third straight on Saturday, falling at home against Pitt.
Now, Mike Norvell is right back to where he started the season: on the hot seat. 3-3 is not good enough in Tallahassee, especially coming off last season's 2-10 disaster. There's a reason Norvell keeps trying to play up the Alabama win. It's all they have to hold onto.
Penn State entered Week 4 against Oregon at 3-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country. College GameDay was in town for a game that overshadowed Alabama at Georgia. The Nittany Lions fell at home to the Ducks in overtime, another in a long line of disappointing results in big games for James Franklin.
Fast forward two weeks later and Penn State lost to Big Ten cellar dwellers UCLA and Northwestern in consecutive weeks, and Franklin was fired on Sunday.
Arkansas never had the expectations for this season that Penn State had or Florida State did after beating Alabama, but a close loss to Ole Miss led to a blown game against Memphis and then a blowout defeat at home against Notre Dame. Sam Pittman was fired after that.
Virginia Tech blew a halftime lead against Vanderbilt and then got thoroughly outclassed by Old Dominion. Brent Pry was let go immediately after.
The same could have happened for DeBoer and for Alabama. The season was on the brink after Week 1. But the Crimson Tide's performance since that disheartening defeat deserves all the praise you can give it.
DeBoer righted the ship when so many others have faltered. And now Alabama looks like the contender we thought they could be in the preseason.