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Auburn football fans will love one writer's prediction for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama fans' marriage together

By Andrew Hughes

April 9, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer watches a pass in flight
April 9, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer watches a pass in flight / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA
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Mike Farrell Sports' Rock Westfall has a prediction for Alabama fans' marriage with first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer that will make Auburn football fans smile from ear to ear and inspire hope for the Iron Bowl rivalry moving forward: it won't work. And it'll be ugly.

"DeBoer will be dealing with one of the most spoiled, demanding, and unreasonable fan bases in the sport," Westfall prefaced before saying, "His honeymoon will end upon his first loss. Additionally, Saban had his reasons for getting out. He could read the writing on the wall in regards to NIL, the transfer portal, and player empowerment. Saban knew his success and iron fist were unsustainable, especially at age 72, so he got out when the getting was good.

"There is almost no way DeBoer can match Saban’s career record. But Alabama fans will hear none of it, making for the probability of a miserable marriage."

Surely, the Crimson Tide won't be the perennial power under DeBoer that it was under Nick Saban. Even the sport's G.O.A.T. head coach was slowing down near the end of his tenure, no longer seeing the same "Bama Standard" on defense that the Tide built its reputation on in the 2010s.

But with Georgia, Mizzou, and a road game against a potentially improved Wisconsin in Madison in 2024, there could be a steep drop-off right away.

If that happens, the Bammers will have an unprecedented meltdown and the "Husky Harsin" allegations will be prominent.

Auburn football can send Alabama into a tailspin with Iron Bowl upset

Not since the "Camback" have the Tigers upset the Tide in Tuscaloosa. Already a two touchdown-plus underdog, Auburn isn't expected to end that dubious streak before it reaches the 15-year mark in late November.

But there'd be no better way to send Alabama fans into a tailspin than by Hugh Freeze and Co. upsetting the Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium in DeBoer's first season at the helm of a program that hasn't been without Saban since the mid-2000s.

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