Nobody saw the Alabama heartbreak coming! The Crimson Tide enjoyed yet another spectacular win against No. 2 Georgia last week as their dominance rose under Kalen DeBoer. They even surpassed the Bulldogs and Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns to become the No. 1 college football team as per AP Poll. But Saturday’s game provided one of the biggest upsets on a highly-ranked team by Vanderbilt. 

Could it just be complacency? How could a No. 1 ranked team get beaten by an underdog who came in with a 2-2 record? This loss is the first time the Crimson Tide lost to the Commodores since 1984 and emotions were high following the loss. Alabama’s OL Tyler Booker gave a strong message after their upset loss in an X post on October 6 by AL.com. He stressed on the importance of unity during adversity saying, “It’s times like this where we have to stay together” as he went around the wounded players declaring his love and appreciation for them. 

Tyler Booker also said, “The message in the locker room is just to stick together and to keep playing football… So we just have to make sure that we keep staying together and keep playing together.” In what is a highly unexpected result, Vanderbilt beat the top ranked CFB team 40-35 to secure their first big win over a top-5 ranked team. The Commodores dominated the game with 42 minutes of the football in their possession while Alabama had two turnovers and six penalties. 

Vanderbilt signal-caller Diego Pavia led with 252 yards and two touchdowns while Bama QB Jalen Milroe recorded 310 yards and one touchdown and was sacked two times. Following the upset, Milroe said, “We just got to learn. We just got to grow. Just take it day by day.” Was it their overconfidence that led to their downfall?

Alabama eats their own digs

For Alabama, all the prior trolling just led to embarrassment! The Crimson Tide took a dig at Vanderbilt ahead of their “away” game in Nashville saying Bama fans could surpass the number of Commodores’ fans. Even Nick Saban spoke too soon on The Pat McAfee Show when he said that Vanderbilt, who was entering the game 2-2, is the easiest place to play in the SEC. 

Well, Vanderbilt delivered at FirstBank Stadium in front of a 28,934 crowd. This served as a wake-up call for Kalen DeBoer who is determined to prepare themselves for all kinds of tests. He said, “We’ve been tested in different ways, really, a lot of the games here this season, and this is a different type of test now in our response.” Can Alabama respond in their next game with South Carolina? After all, the next three games after that are all ranked opponents – Tennessee, Missouri, and LSU. 

Learn something about Doug Sanders’ vision for college football in this exclusive Think Tank interview.