YES, finally. See, just winning over Georgia and making them go nil in the first quarter ain’t enough to win the approval of the Bama crowd. Kalen DeBoer and Co. have had quite the run. After the Dawgs’ rivalry win, the Bama giant faltered and made mistakes. They lost to Vandy!! VANDY. And the following South Carolina game was just a mercy win. With the Vols loss, the new chant from the crowd was “fire Kalen DeBoer” but no. This guy and the boys came back with a blast against Mizzou and flipped the script. Coming off of a bye week, DeBoer has to keep up the Bama 10-year legacy of never losing a game (after a by-week) and it looks like he has found how he can get that done.

Back on X, Charlie Potter shared a clip of DL Jihaad Campbell. The Tide DL explained what violent message DeBoer left for the entire squad. “Non-stop violent, non-stop physicalness, non-stop execution. You’ve gotta keep on running, keep on going, and make the other team quit,” Campbell mentioned. This is it. DeBoer is finally keeping aside his calm HC cap and picking up the Nick Saban signature attitude. See, after winning against Georgia, the entire time kind of died out. It was visible that they had become overconfident and well, that resulted in Vanderbilt securing the 40-35 win.

However, Jalen Milroe‘s overall performance is the biggest disappointment. He started the season off with a completion rate of around 77%. Even against the Dawgs, he was at his peak of 81%. This took a sharp turn against Vols. Milroe went for 55% with only 25 out of 45 total passes.

Even against the Tigers. This guy was all over the place. Got sacked twice, had zero passing touchdowns, and managed to snag in 16 passes out of 26 attempted. We can happily say that Bama won that game because DeBoer was out there channeling his inner Nick Saban. He was in the faces of players at the OL, shouting. You gotta thank DC Kane Wommack for that masterful defense against Mizzou.

The entire Rush and Pass game was crippled, and they went zero against Bama. This is the team everyone has been waiting to watch on that turf, and fans will finally be happy that DeBoer is snapping things back to the right places. The question now is, can all of this help them win against LSU?

Final test for Kalen DeBoer

6-2. If they lose against LSU, then you can safely say that Bama is out of the playoffs race. The entire loss to Vandy and Vols is a huge stain that can only be washed away if DeBoer and Co. go undefeated in their next games. The first roadblock to completing that challenge is getting over LSU.

See, the Tigers are coming off of a loss to the Aggies. So, Brian Kelly ain’t gonna make this easy. The biggest problem regarding Bama right now is there QB. Milroe has been underwhelming and if he does the same thing he did against SC or Vandy or even Vols, the Bama is done for. We do know that the D-line would stand up and stop LSU’s rush-and-run game.

It’ll all come down to who makes the better plays. Bama already has a prodigy WR (Ryan Williams) on that turf, so the run game won’t be a problem. If Milroe can snap back and do what he did against Georgia in the first quarter, then this would be an easy win for DeBoer. Let’s wait and watch.

But, as you wait, why not tune in for the latest Think Tank episode from EssentiallySports?