Stephen A. Smith claims happiness of Kalen DeBoer's family at Alabama will 'change a little bit' with a loss to Oklahoma

No. 9 Alabama and No. 8 Oklahoma will kick off the College Football Playoff Friday night in Norman. The Sooners have won both of the previous two meetings between the SEC foes and look to win their third in 13 months Friday night. Alabama, however, will look to bounce back from its disappointing SEC Championship performance with its first CFP game victory since Dec. 31, 2021.

This game occurs as rumors continue to swirl linking Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer to Michigan, which parted ways with head coach Sherrone Moore last week. Although DeBoer has doubled down on the fact that he wishes to remain in Tuscaloosa, a loss to Oklahoma could certainly change things.

With a loss to the Sooners, Alabama would be just 19-8 with no postseason victories through two seasons under Kalen DeBoer. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith claimed that the happiness of DeBoer and his family, due to his early lack of success, will “change a little bit” if Alabama is bounced in the first round of the Playoff.

Stephen A. Smith says Kalen DeBoer’s family’s happiness ‘will change a little bit’ with an Alabama loss

“We have to go here,” Smith said ahead of Alabama’s game. “Kalen DeBoer says we’re not thinking (about the Michigan opening) and my family’s happy and stuff like that. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’ But I mean, if Michigan picks up the phone and calls you after you’ve lost to Oklahoma for a third time in 13 months, I’m just imagining. I don’t want to step out of pocket here because I want to be respectful. I’m dead serious about this. But all of that stuff he’s talking about with how happy his family is, I think that’ll change a little bit if he loses this game.”

“I don’t think the people down (at Alabama) are going to be interested in his happiness. I don’t think his family is gonna be that happy. On the pro level, we all know how intense it gets on the collegiate level. On the pro level, you’ve got an offensive coordinator in Philadelphia that got his house egg-bombed (Kevin Patullo). It’s worse in college football. So when he’s talking about how happy he is, I’m going like this… when he said that, I was like ‘that’s for now’. That might not be the case next week.”

With last season ending in a blowout loss to Oklahoma and a ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan, ending this season with a blowout loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and a third consecutive loss to the Sooners could be detrimental to fan support around DeBoer.