Alabama’s trip back to Nashville comes with a built-in reminder of what can go wrong when a season’s momentum gets away from you.
The Crimson Tide were No. 1 in the country in 2024 and had just survived a thriller against Georgia when they walked into FirstBank Stadium and left with a 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt. It was Alabama’s first defeat to the Commodores since 1984, and it played a major role in keeping the Tide out of the College Football Playoff.
That game was fresh in Kalen DeBoer’s mind after Alabama beat LSU on Saturday. He said he brought it up in the locker room in Baton Rouge.
“A lot of these guys don’t have the memory from a couple years ago. Big win, then going up to Vanderbilt,” DeBoer said. “For some of them, it doesn’t matter.”
DeBoer was asked Monday how he’s using that loss as Alabama prepares to return to Nashville. His answer centered on lessons, not revenge.
“There’s coaches, there’s players that were here. There’s a lot of coaches and players that weren’t here,” DeBoer said. “And so, everyone kind of has their own kind of way they look at each game.
“And obviously, my job as the head coach is to take those experiences - the good, the bad, the ugly - to always apply them and make sure that we’re better because of it. And so, that’s what we’ll do, whether it was last year playing and understanding how Vanderbilt’s style matches up in our matchup versus them.”
Alabama didn’t make any players from that 2024 team available to reporters before this week’s game, and the players who did speak said the upset wasn’t a big topic.
“Not really talked about much,” linebacker Caleb Woodson, who lost to Vanderbilt last season while at Virginia Tech, said. “I wasn’t here. We just focus on going out and dominating the next game.”
The memory, though, has clearly lingered inside the staff. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack still keeps a block from that loss in his office, and he said Monday that the experience has been a useful reminder.
“I think you learn from adversity, right? That’s what I think makes people better versions of themselves as they continue to develop,” Wommack said Monday.
“That game obviously had a major impact on on me and and I’ve held that. I still have that block in our office as mainly just a reminder of how relentless you have to be in your process.
We came off of a big win, I think we went up there two years ago, and we didn’t have enough guys on the sideline that had the same sense of urgency that you have to have in every single SEC game.
“ And I wanted to make sure that- I think we have used that experience numerous times since then to make sure we don’t be putting ourselves in the best position from a mindset standpoint of how what it takes to be relentless in our process day-in, day-out, to go win the SEC. So it’s been two years since we’ve had an opportunity to go up to Nashville and win, and certainly we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we maximize this opportunity this week.”
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