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The Tuscaloosa News
Kalen DeBoer is not overconfident about Alabama football after LSU win. Here's why
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Kalen DeBoer is not overconfident about Alabama football after LSU win. Here's why
BATON ROUGE, La. — In the minutes after Alabama football's 42-13 win against LSU at Tiger Stadium Saturday, Kalen DeBoer refused to talk about the big picture.
DeBoer didn't mention the College Football Playoff, a path that was seemingly cemented in Baton Rouge. He didn't mention a path to the SEC championship that became much clearer whether Alabama likes it or not.
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From the postgame interview room right off the football field in Death Valley where Alabama made a major SEC statement , it was not about the game for DeBoer. That was only a product of what he'd already seen.
It's what DeBoer expected.
"They just stayed the course, kept buckling down, kept getting better and better," DeBoer said. "Going back to the bye week, kept getting better and better. On Sunday, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, you could just keep seeing the momentum building. I liked what I saw."
That momentum turned into utter dominance.
Jalen Milroe found his "super power," recording 185 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries.
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The Alabama defense won the turnover battle on a Jihaad Campbell strip sack and interceptions from Deontae Lawson and Bray Hubbard.
The LSU offense was left dumbfounded, limited to one touchdown and two field goals despite 343 yards of offense.
All DeBoer said Alabama did in its two weeks of preparation was stack days of relentless pursuit.
"When you do that, there's a swagger," DeBoer said.
When you do that, it shuts down criticism, even criticism from a beloved figure around the Alabama football program.
After the high of a 41-34 home victory against Georgia and the low of a 40-35 road loss to Vanderbilt, Nick Saban criticized DeBoer and Alabama, saying he saw "a little bit of complacency, almost even arrogance" from the Crimson Tide .
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"That creates blatant disregard for doing what's right preparation wise, ready to play with the kind of balance you need psychologically to be able to compete at a high level," Saban said. "You've got to respect every opponent."
Here's what Saban preached: it's all about what you do, how you prepare, learning from the past and not dwelling on those successes or failures.
From the postgame interview room right off the football field in Death Valley, DeBoer made his case. That is what Alabama has always done.
"I really don't feel like we've ever been overconfident or complacent in any way," DeBoer said. "We haven't done enough here since we've been here to get to that point."
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Alabama is still growing, DeBoer said. It's a team that is slowly putting the pieces together. But it isn't a team that has arrived.
"We got to reload it all and do it all over again," DeBoer said.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer is not overconfident about Alabama football after LSU win
