Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer still believes he has a good football team, even after last week’s surprising 31-17 loss at Florida State.
The season-opening loss to the Seminoles, who went 2-10 last season, was the Crimson Tide’s fifth loss in their past 10 games under DeBoer, who was hired in January 2024 to replace Nick Saban.
“My message is that our team is, I think we have a good football team that can do some big things still this year,” DeBoer said during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. “We’ve got to prove it. We’ve got to go do it.”
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DeBoer, 50, went 9-4 in his first season as Alabama’s coach, the first time the Tide lost more than three games since Saban’s first team went 7-6 in 2007.
Most alarming to some Alabama fans is that the Tide have lost four times as a double-digit favorite in DeBoer’s first 14 games. They were a 13½-point favorite over Florida State, which ended Alabama’s 23-game winning streak in season openers.
DeBoer said he is trying to stay the course heading into Saturday’s home game against Louisiana-Monroe (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network), despite widespread criticism surrounding his program.
After losing to Florida State, the Tide fell from No. 8 to No. 21 in the AP Top 25, their lowest ranking since they were 24th in the 2008 preseason poll.
“To this point, it’s been just me being able to focus on football, and I appreciate that,” DeBoer said.
DeBoer said the Tide won’t have starting defensive lineman Tim Keenan III (ankle) or tailback Jam Miller (collarbone) available to play on Saturday. Sophomore receiver Ryan Williams is also questionable because of a concussion.
DeBoer said Keenan, who had 40 tackles and 2½ sacks last season, was “doing really well” and it wasn’t a long-term injury.
Miller, the Tide’s top returning rusher with 668 yards with seven touchdowns in 2024, might be able to return for a Sept. 13 home game against Wisconsin, DeBoer said.
“Jam is doing really well,” DeBoer said. “Will not be available this week but coming along, again, as good as you could’ve expected. We knew there would be a possibility for next week and that’s certainly still the case.”
