Urban Meyer declares Alabama's win over Georgia a job-saver for Kalen DeBoer: 'That was incredible'

Alabama‘s 24-21 road upset of then-No. 5 Georgia in Athens last Saturday was college football’s most-watched game of Week 5 with 10.4 million viewers tuning into ABC for the primetime SEC matchup. But, perhaps even more significantly, it was one of the most important wins of Kalen DeBoer‘s two-year tenure in Tuscaloosa.

Former Florida and Ohio State coach-turned-FOX Sports analyst Urban Meyer and FS1’s Colin Cowherd agreed as much. The duo discussed the question during Meyer’s weekly Thursday hit on The Herd.

“I felt Kalen DeBoer beating Georgia in Athens,” Cowherd began. “And I’m counting (games under Nick Saban), I don’t know of a bigger regular-season win at Alabama in the last six years.”

It was an especially cathartic victory for DeBoer, who was facing criticism from fans and media alike after opening the 2025 season with an embarrassing 31-17 loss at unranked Florida State. It was Alabama’s fifth road loss in its last six games away from Bryant-Denny Stadium, a troubling trend line that DeBoer and the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide (3-1, 1-0 SEC) ended with Saturday’s upset in Athens.

“You talk about that win, I don’t want to say it was a job-saver, but it’s a job-saver. That was incredible,” Meyer said Thursday on The Herd. “To go Between the Hedges there – you know I’ve never been there, I’ve never been to Athens, Ga. – but … I made a comment on Big Noon (Kickoff), that is a big-boy win.

“There must be some tough-ass guys in that Alabama locker room, because they came back from … they were dead and buried after that first loss (at Florida State). People were counting them out, and now they’re not being counted out at all.”

The victory also improved DeBoer’s record against Georgia to 2-0, while Georgia head coach Kirby Smart — who spent nearly a decade as Alabama’s defensive coordinator under Saban — dropped to 1-7 all-time against his former employer. The Crimson Tide now move on to host No. 16 Vanderbilt (5-0, 1-0 SEC) in a revenge game after the Commodores upset then-No. 1 Alabama last season in Nashville.

Paul Finebaum reacts to monumental win over Georgia for Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

Paul Finebaum appeared on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning earlier this week. There, he praised DeBoer and Alabama for their win in Athens.

“It was a monumental victory for the school and for Kalen DeBoer,” Finebaum said. “And being in Athens for two days and seeing all the signs about Nick Saban and the Georgia record is more about Nick Saban than it is Kalen DeBoer. All those signs and all those sayings go into the trash heap Monday morning because the one stat is going to loom largest out of this weekend is Kalen DeBoer is 2-0 against Kirby Smart.”

DeBoer often faces comparisons to Nick Saban. That’s no surprise, but after going 9-4 last season and opening 2025 with another loss, there was a lot of criticism and hot seat talk on his shoulders. That goes away by beating Georgia.

“That is a remarkable record for someone who has taken as many hits as Kalen DeBoer,” Finebaum said. “And as recently as a month ago right here by me and many other people. So, I think that is such a monster story.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.