ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum has Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer in his crosshairs.
Such is life in the SEC when you lose to an unranked team by three touchdowns on the road, as the Crimson Tide did in a brutal 24-3 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night in Norman. Alabama had been a two-touchdown favorite entering the night.
Appearing on “The Matt Barrie Show” Sunday morning, Finebaum said that Alabama’s loss to the Sooners was “inexcusable” and added that the Crimson Tide “didn’t look like they had a clue.”
“Let me cut to the chase: it was simply inexcusable. And you can blame anyone you want, but you would be smart to start at the very top because that team did not look prepared. They didn’t look focused. They didn’t look like they had a clue what they were getting into, and I don’t know how that could be the case because everyone who watches football knew that Brent Venables had an elite defense. They just have no offense because of all the wide receivers being hurt and chaos at quarterback. I just don’t understand it.”
Alabama (8-3) settled for a 3-0 lead early after squandering a red-zone opportunity following a big catch from Ryan Williams at the Oklahoma (6-5) 11-yard line. But the Crimson Tide offense fizzled the rest of the night and never made it back to the red zone against a smothering Sooners defense.
Jalen Milroe was 11-of-26 passing for 164 yards with three interceptions. He had 15 carries for just seven yards as Alabama’s rushing attack was held to 70 yards on 30 carries. Milroe’s 49-yard pick six to Kip Lewis on Alabama’s second possession of the third quarter opened the floodgates and gave Oklahoma a 24-3 lead.
Alabama came into the game at No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and had positioned itself for a run to the SEC Championship Game. But after Saturday’s loss, Finebaum is perplexed as to why anyone would consider Alabama a playoff team.
“That loss was a body blow, and I know what my good friend Heather Dinich is saying, (that) there is a path for Alabama and maybe there will be. But the real question is why? I mean, I don’t understand how Alabama can be considered a legitimate playoff team. And I realize that there are probably schools in there that aren’t legitimate, either, but they’ve lost to Vanderbilt, a five-loss team, and now Oklahoma, a five-loss team. If you were looking at a chart of the SEC, they’re probably 12 and 13 out of the 16 in the league, and the other loss is at Tennessee. I know who they have a win against: possibly the SEC champion (Georgia). But please. If they get in, good for them. I’ll be happy and everybody will sing Kumbaya, but are they really a playoff team after what we saw on Saturday night? I mean, that was just hard to wrap my arms around.
“In the middle of the night, I’m getting texts from old-time Alabama fans that are going, ‘What have we gotten ourselves into?’ Because this is the same Alabama team — actually, it’s not — it’s a worse Alabama team than we saw against Vanderbilt. I mean, this team was completely clueless.’
Alabama fell six spots to No. 13 in the Week 13 US LBM Coaches Poll. The Crimson Tide host the Auburn Tigers next Saturday in the 89th edition of the Iron Bowl. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC.
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