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Nick Saban weighs in on pressure facing Alabama, reacts to change Kalen DeBoer made

Matt Connollyby: Matt Connolly10/26/24MattConnollyOn3
Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban
Gary Cosby Jr. | Tuscaloosa News | USA TODAY NETWORK

The Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama is not off to the best start. The Crimson Tide have lost two of their past three games entering Saturday’s matchup with Missouri, and pressure is mounting in Tuscaloosa.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke on ESPN College GameDay Saturday morning about where the Alabama program is at under DeBoer. He feels like a change DeBoer made this week could turn out to be beneficial.

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“Kalen did something this week which I thought was interesting, TNT – Takes No Talent,” Nick Saban said. “You know, all of these things that have been going wrong really are not talent oriented. They’re mental errors. They’re snap count. All these different things.

“And I think the No. 1 thing Alabama has to do is not worry about winning. They have to worry about getting back to playing to a standard.”

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Saban added that he feels like the outside noise at Alabama is causing Crimson Tide players to not play as well as they’re capable of.

Alabama must tune out the noise, stop making mental mistakes and play its game moving forward. If so, Saban feels that the program will be just fine.

“I think if they play to a standard, with the talent they have, they’ll be able to come out on top,” Saban said. “There’s so much pressure at Alabama to win every game. Sometimes that affects the players. They get anxious. They’re worried about outcome instead of focusing on what’s in front of them and playing one play at a time and that’s what they need to get back to.”

Fellow ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit also offered his take on the Crimson Tide program and what it must do to get back to playing well.

“To me, Alabama, it’s not about who they’re playing. It’s about what’s been happening and trying to get better – too many penalties, turning the football over, too many mental mistakes on defense,” Herbstreit said. “So they’ve gotta find a way to don’t worry about who you’re playing, just get right. Because [Jalen] Milroe looks like old Milroe. They don’t have an identity right now on offense.”