Not everyone has bought the notion that Alabama made a statement in its win over Georgia. Kalen DeBoer, the head coach of the Crimson Tide, is now under some pressure, albeit this one is coming from the NFL grumbles. With that win, Alabama only managed to scrape by Georgia with a 41-34 victory, but Shannon Sharpe had plenty to say about how ‘Bama let Georgia back in. And it ain’t pretty.

While recently appearing on his Nightcap show on YouTube, Shannon did not hold back. “The game was lopsided the whole first half,” he said. What happened next made Sharpe work up. “I had no idea they were gonna mismanage the clock and allow Georgia to get back into the game… don’t take your foot off the gas.” Sharpe’s take echoed what a lot of fans were thinking: this game was Alabama’s for the taking, but they allowed Georgia to fight back. The Tide became conservative, and Georgia nearly made them pay the penalty for their conservatism.

For DeBoer, this battle may have been won, and everything seen on paper, but the gaps are slowly opening up. Of course, something about Georgia’s verdict caused a fourth-quarter surge behind and exposed some crucial weaknesses in Alabama’s strategy, primarily in their inability to secure a victory.

This was not empty talk from Shannon Sharpe; statistics clearly showed that Alabama had been terrible for the team. Georgia ended up going just 1-for-13 on third down, yet they converted at a rate of 5 for 5 on fourth down. “Your defense, they couldn’t get off the field,”  Sharpe pointed out. “Georgia’s keeping you on the field for 10, 12 plays. Alabama’s going three-and-out.” That’s a problem. Alabama may have walked away with the win, but Sharpe wasn’t wrong when he said, “The game shouldn’t have even been that close.”

Sharpe did not hold back on criticizing Alabama for their conservative approach in the second half. He said, “They got conservative, your defense couldn’t get off the field on fourth down… they were vanilla.”  That is going to the criticism in the aftermath of the Georgia game. While Kirby Smart and Carson Beck would be rightly called out for their iffy play during the first half, they may get some flowers how they made it 34-33, with 2:40 left in the 4th quarter. If not for that Ryan Williams’ play (we still don’t have words to describe it), the Tide were staring at an embarrassing defeat.

Kalen DeBoer under the microscope

Alabama failed to maintain dominance over Georgia. Sharpe broke it down simply: “When you have the momentum, how much separation can you put between you and the team?” Uh, no, Alabama didn’t put enough. At half time, it looked like Kirby Smart couldn’t wait to return to Georgia. But, such is the level of drama in college football. You’re never out of it until you’re out of it. A few touchdowns, forcing three-and-out, some conservative play by Alabama, and we had a proper slug-fest in the 4th quarter- exactly what the fans hoped the game would deliver. DeBoer? He would have wanted to make an example out of Gerogia.

After the game, DeBoer complimented his players, especially Jalen Milroe, the QB, who had a monster game with 374 passing yards and 117 rushing yards. “Jaylen had nearly 500 yards of offense…his ability to make plays in the air and on the ground was outstanding,” DeBoer said. Besides that, though, he acknowledged the slip-ups, which he said were more apparent in the second half.

You can easily tell that DeBoer practices tenacity and togetherness in her leadership style. “We pushed each other to the very end… these guys come to practice every single day,” DeBoer said, making all possible effort to maintain a positive atmosphere. However, there was no doubt that this game could have easily turned out quite differently if Alabama didn’t have such a massive first-half lead. Georgia just was not ready to vacate the scene.

DeBoer answered that his team had become conservative, but he did not look too worried about it. He said his players deserve praise for their hard work during the build-up to the game and assured them they will be informed on errors made in the Georgia game. DeBoer added, “We expect to win these games,” and it was now time for the next team.

Besides the post-game scoops, if you want to know about topics like NIL and NFL in depth, you can check out the latest episode of the ES Think Tank podcast.