Alabama Football suffers embarrassing road loss to Vanderbilt: 3 Takeaways

Alabama football believed its own hype and spent the last week in a dream state following a 41-34 win over Georgia. Those dreams came crashing back down to earth as the Kalen DeBoer suffered its first serious roadblock, a 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville.

It's the worst Alabama loss since 2007 to UL Monroe in Nick Saban's first season. But Saban inherited a roster in serious need of rebuilding, coming off of a 6-7 season in 2006. DeBoer inherited a roster with championship expectations coming off of an SEC Championship and College Football Playoff berth.

If I'm short for words it's truly out of shock and disappointment. Vanderbilt had never beaten an AP Top-5 team in program history. It has now.

It's the first outright loss to Vanderbilt for Alabama since 1984. 40-years ago, which was also the last time Alabama was in the midst of replacing a legendary coach. Ray Perkins was in his second year with the Crimson Tide. He was run out of town after four years.

3. Alabama swallowed the rat poison all week

You want to see what a football team looks like after swallowing up all the rat poison they could find for a full week about how good they were? Look no further than this game. Alabama staffers tried to warn the team, but some conveniently placed mouse traps through the facility clearly wasn't enough.

I can't speak to what the week of practice looked like in Tuscaloosa, but this game gives me reason to question whether they practiced at all, or maybe spent the week playing NCAA25 in the facility hoping for the best.

The season isn't over; the new 12-team College Football Playoff will assure that the Crimson Tide still has a shot to bounce back. But who cares at this point, right? The playoff is the furthest thing from any Alabama fans' mind right now.

2. Kane Wommack is on the clock

The offense did enough. It wasn't perfect, but the offense did enough to win a road game against an inferior opponent. But the defense? Woof. Wommack's scheme looks tired already. I'm not sure the team practiced against any type of option looks ever once in their life.

The secondary was always going to take some lumps. There's too much youth back there for that not to happen. But the front-seven should be a strength, littered with upper-classmen and quality depth. They looked lost all game.

Vanderbilt took the opening possession of the game and set the tone with a long touchdown drive. A fluky tipped-ball interception followed and Alabama immediately found theselves down 13-0 before anyone could even blink.

Mistake after mistake extended drives. Alabama entered the game with the No. 2 third down defense in the country and promptly surrendered 12-of-18 third downs to Diego Pavia and the 'Dores.

Alabama needed one stop in the fourth quarter, and could never get it. Following a blindside hit on Milroe that caused a fumble, the Tide's defense surrendered a 7-play, 53-yard touchdown drive to find themselves down 12.

Milroe and the offense scored to cut the lead to five with just under three to play. Alabama's defense needed one stop. They couldn't get it and never got the ball back to Milroe as Vanderbilt moved the chains three times to end the game.

1. Kalen DeBoer will find out if he's cut out to be the Alabama coach

Losing a single game isn't damning for a head coach. Not at most places. It isn't damning at Alabama, either, unless it looks like it did on Saturday afternoon in Nashville. Alabama doesn't lose games to Vanderbilt, even when the Tide isn't ranked No. 1 in the country.

You can't lose to Vandy. You especially can't lose to Vandy when you're following the greatest coach in the history of the sport and your fanbase is as spoiled as any fanbase has evern been, in any sport.

You will see it. You probably already have. People will be questioning whether DeBoer is cut out for this job. He probably doesn't know it yet himself. He's going to find out. Because the heat is coming. Fans will be loud and vocal about the displeasure of losing this game.

How will DeBoer respond to that? Will it make him stronger? Will he refocus his team and take this loss as a lesson? Will we see the best version of Alabama the rest of the way? The version that built the 28-0 lead on Georgia last week?

Or will this team continue to struggle through a two or three or even four loss season? If Vandy can beat you, then only Mercer is a gimme game. This isn't the PAC-12. It's the SEC. You have to bring it every Saturday or this is what can happen to you.

If DeBoer didn't know that, he got a harsh reality check on Saturday.