After the latest embarrassing road defeat at the hands of a program that went 2-10 a year ago, Alabama is now 1-4 in its last five road games. 1-5 if you count games played away from Tuscaloosa, and you throw in the pitiful performance in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
After an offseason of good vibes and big talk, DeBoer looked just as in over his head on the sidelines for the Crimson Tide as he did a year ago. The camera cutting to his looks of befuddlement as Alabama consistently missed tackles defensively in the first half, and the offense became dormant after one single impressive drive to open the game.
Whether Ty Simpson is the guy at QB or not is a fair question. But his coaches and teammates rarely did him any favors. Poor blocking, some ill-timed drops, and plenty of poor reads led to an offense that looked every bit as inept as it did for large stretches a year ago.
Alabama lost to Florida State, its first season-opening loss in 24 years. It's yet another streak lost in DeBoer's short watch. Last season, Alabama failed to win 10 games for the first time in 17 years. Failed to win 11 games for the first time in 14 years. Lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years a year ago. But it was the loss to FSU that was the most damaging yet.
After an offseason of posturing, it showed that nothing really changed. Alabama fans were willing to chalk last season up to DeBoer trying to coach a team he didn't put together, with a QB he didn't choose. This year, this is firmly DeBoer's team. He hand-picked the QB.
And after the clock struck zero in Tallahassee, Alabama was officially 9-5 through the first 14 games of the DeBoer era. A winning percentage of 64%, much closer to guys like Dennis Franchione and Ray Perkins than comparable to the titans who came before him.
And that means the clock is ticking on DeBoer, albeit probably a long way away from zero still.
Alabama is stuck with Kalen DeBoer - for better or worse
To poach DeBoer from Washington, Greg Byrne gave him a sky-high buyout. If Alabama wanted to make a coaching change, it would come at a significant cost.
DeBoer signed an 8-year, $87 million contract in January of 2024. If Alabama wanted to fire him, it would owe him 90% of the remaining money on his contract. It would be upwards of $55 million to fire DeBoer after the season, an unrealistic figure for an athletic department already struggling to keep up with some of the more financially robust programs.
It would be damaging to Alabama's ability to recruit going forward if it had to divert resources to paying a massive buyout. But at this point, Alabama's perception has taken such a hit in the 14 games under DeBoer that Byrne might not be able to afford not making a move.