NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer heard the critics and the questions heading into his team’s College Football Playoff game against Oklahoma on Friday.
There was the sentiment that maybe Alabama shouldn’t have made the field. The Crimson Tide lost badly to Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game and a strong Notre Dame squad got left out of the field. Then, rumors about him possibly leaving for Michigan were serious enough for him to issue a statement saying he was happy at Alabama.
DeBoer expected his players to handle it all well, and they did.
“The doubt piece — there’s enough confidence within our group to where we can see the doubters, we can see the naysayers and just go still play our game,” DeBoer said. “This group is tight enough to where there’s never been any finger pointing. There’s ever been anything like that.”
The players appreciated the extra fuel.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson said. “I mean, y’all kind of wrote us off in a nice sort of way. So, appreciate that.”
Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson didn’t like the way the media portrayed the Crimson Tide after the loss to Georgia, but he agreed with Simpson’s sentiment.
“That’s when we’re at our best,” he said.
The Crimson Tide had lost their previous two games to Oklahoma, and it looked like maybe the Sooners had their number. Oklahoma jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.
But DeBoer and his team proved resilient. The Crimson Tide rattled off 27 straight points on the way to a 34-24 win that earned them a spot in a Rose Bowl quarterfinal against No. 1 seed Indiana.
DeBoer said he was never worried, even when Oklahoma took control early.
“You can’t go score a 17-point touchdown,” he said. “You’ve got to score one score, even if it’s three points. And that’s what our guys did.”
Now, the Crimson Tide are closer to where they expect to be at this time of year.
“We’re not done yet,” Simpson said. “That’s all I got to say.”
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