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Greg McElroy measures pressure of Kalen DeBoer, Kirby Smart in Alabama vs. Georgia

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko09/25/24nickkosko59
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Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images/Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Greg McElroy wasn’t shy about putting pressure on Kalen DeBoer ahead of Alabama’s game against Kirby Smart and Georgia.

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum already said Smart can “ill afford” to lose this weekend. McElroy agrees a little bit, but he didn’t want to minimize the pressure on DeBoer.

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DeBoer rose to superstardom at Washington, getting to a national championship game. But this game, this situation, is a whole ‘nother animal.

“Well, it’s immense,” McElroy said on Get Up. “There’s no denying that. I mean what you do as the head coach of Alabama, you’re defined by championships. And I’m not talking like SEC West Division titles. I’m talking national championships, where they only give out one a year, or in the weird year when they give UCF a, you know, 1/10 of one, that’s fine, too. I look at it and it’s really, to me, kind of an amazing thing, though. 

“For Kalen DeBoer, he’s already built up a ton of goodwill amongst the fan base. The narrative has been that Kirby Smart couldn’t get past the Nick Saban hurdle. Nick Saban was the guy that had his numbers: 1-5 against Nick Saban.”

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Smart beat Saban and Alabama in the 2021 national championship game, denying Saban and the Crimson Tide of a second straight title.

Georgia would win its second straight in 2022 before missing out on the CFP last year, losing to, you guessed it, Saban and Alabama in the SEC Championship.

But with the hot start from DeBoer and Alabama, everyone’s loving life in Tuscaloosa. And it’ll be the same old story if they win again with College GameDay in town Saturday.

“So I honestly think that Kalen DeBoer has a little bit less pressure on him, because more of the emphasis is going to be on Kirby Smart,” McElroy said. “Because in the event in which he loses to Kalen DeBoer, then you could say, ‘hang on a sec. I thought it was a Saban problem? Maybe it’s an Alabama problem.’ So I honestly think, in a weird way, more pressure is on the guy that’s lost only 16 games in nine years as a head coach and won two national titles.”