Paul Finebaum calls Alabama "loose" after Nick Saban's departure, cites Vanderbilt upset as a major blow

The Alabama team (Alabama
The Alabama team (Alabama's IG handle)

The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered their first loss of the season under coach Kalen DeBoer and it could not have come against a more unlikely opponent. The Vanderbilt Commodores upsetting the No. 1 Crimson Tide 40-35 in Week 6 action was the biggest shock in a weekend full of them.

During an appearance on the "Matt Barrie Show" on Sunday, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum was critical of the Crimson Tide's approach to games under DeBoer as opposed to former coach Nick Saban (5:40).

“He’s (DeBoer) calm, he’s cool, he came on our show Wednesday,” Finebaum said. “And we went back and talked about the Georgia game. Can you imagine trying to get Nick Saban four days after a major win, ‘Coach, I know you got Vanderbilt. Let’s go back and talk.’ First of all, he wouldn’t have done the interview.
“And then I’m watching SportsCenter Thursday night. There’s Jalen Milroe. I mean, that did not happen under Nick Saban, for a reason, Matt, and I think what we’re going to hear is this program is a little bit too loose. Whether it’s NIL, I don’t really know what it is. I like it, until I didn’t like it Saturday afternoon.”
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Analyst down on Alabama under coach Kalen DeBoer

Succeeding the retired Nick Saban was always going to be a tall order for any coach and Kalen DeBoer seemed to have bucked the trend when he led the Crimson Tide to a thrilling 41-34 win over coach Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs in Week 5.

The loss to the Commodores coming a week after the high of the Bulldogs' win was a massive reality check to DeBoer, showing the competitiveness of the Southeastern Conference.

On the "Matt Barrie Show," analyst Paul Finebaum was not impressed by DeBoer's performance and declared that the loss to Vanderbilt would not have happened under Saban (1:15).

“Well, we saw a new head coach in Alabama named Kalen DeBoer, who, after all the praise he got here last week, showed that the Nick Saban era is over, because Nick Saban would have never lost that game,” Finebaum said.
“And people talk about the Louisiana-Monroe game, you know, (Saban) inherited a 6-7 team. This is the worst loss I have ever seen by a quality Bama team. I’ve seen bad Alabama teams lose … but I’ve never seen a great Alabama team lose like this, and it is sending shockwaves through the Alabama ecosystem right now.”
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Kalen DeBoer is learning why the Crimson Tide job is perhaps the most lucrative and most feared in college football in equal parts and he will have to ride the inevitable wave of criticism after the Vanderbilt loss.

Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann
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