Before their Rose Bowl matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers on New Year's Day, the Alabama Crimson Tide fanbase is scrambling to figure out which side of the Bammer civil war they fall on between Nick Saban-era players and the current locker room.
There have been repeated questions from former Tide guys like Damien Harris, Mark Ingram, and A.J. McCarron in the media about whether Kalen DeBoer is the right man for the seat. The questioning makes sense, since DeBoer winning big in Tuscaloosa would prove that Saban may not have been the transcendent coach many believed he was. Truthfully, those players probably know a grift born of rage-baiting Alabama fans is as easy as taking candy from a baby.
It's reached the Crimson Tide locker room, though.
"I mean, you see guys kind of showing that they don't believe in you, and it definitely does hit harder coming from a former Alabama player, especially if they have won national championships," said Alabama left tackle Kadyn Proctor. "And it's kind of tough hearing from them because you obviously want them to be on your side."
"Personally, it kind of hits me," said a grimacing Alabama inside linebacker Deontae Lawson. "It kind of hits me deep, to be honest, because, you knew what it took when you were here. They weren't perfect. And just the way they kind of kind of talk about us, it's like they were."
The grifting even got Bama247 Alex Scarborough to admit that Saban's "Bama Standard" is built on a lot of folklore.
"It's not as if Alabama won every game it played under Saban. There were ebbs in the dynasty. And the tired accusations about a lack of discipline under DeBoer as compared to those Saban teams simply doesn't ring true. There were fights on the sidelines and arrests — not an exorbitant amount, but still. There were games with a record-setting number of penalties," Scarborough wrote.
Alabama either imploding at right time or insufferably coming together
Please, for the love of God, let this not be a "Tide players stand up to the legends of yesteryear and earn their stripes" narrative. Indiana, please show up in Pasadena and prove the Hoosiers weren't a season-long fluke.
If the football gods aren't starting off 2026 with the worst-case scenario on the Plains, the "Mullet A" civil war may soon kick into overdrive.
DeBoer losing to Indiana solidifies the narrative that the "Bama Standard" has dramatically fallen.
If it was ever even all it was cracked up to be, anyway.