A Kalen DeBoer-to-the-Penn State Nittany Lions scenario has popped up, and it's got enough smoke that On3's Chris Low spoke to someone close to the Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach to get a concrete update.
Low just didn't get anything concrete from his source, who simultaneously said it wasn't true, but it soon could be true.
“I talked to somebody pretty close to Kalen last night, and they said, 'No,'” Low said. “I know there were a couple reports yesterday that he was right at the top of the list or somebody they had been considered from the outset. Somebody I talked to who was close to Kalen, I have not talked to Caitlin, said that that was not accurate. But you know what, things change. You guys know that the coaching carousel’s cycle. There’s a lot of fluidity to it, but my information last night, I talked to somebody close to him that know that that’s not gonna happen.”
What this means: DeBoer isn't a candidate unless they take an unfathomable loss. And that unfathomable loss isn't coming to the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the Tide's home finale at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 13.
Auburn is the Kalen DeBoer-to-Penn State caveat
Standing in the way between DeBoer becoming a potential Penn State poach is the Auburn Tigers and a November 29 date on the Plains under Jordan-Hare Stadium's lights that has stakes for both teams, but means everything to Alabama.
Lose the Iron Bowl, missing a second straight College Football Playoff in the process, and DeBoer will have to have someone pack his bags for him, because he might as well head to the Atlanta airport and take the first flight back to the Pacific Northwest or State College, Pennsylvania. Wherever he goes, DeBoer would not be welcomed back in Tuscaloosa.
The Tigers have the power to deliver the Nittany Lions a solid coaching candidate, and give Alabama the chance to find the ideal head coach who wouldn't rely on out-scheming opponents, as opposed to out-toughing them, and could potentially raise the "Bama Standard" back up, in Week 14.