Casagrande: Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer not emotional enough? Suspension question fixed that

Vanderbilt football made clear during the week leading into its matchup with Alabama that it wasn’t intimidated by the Crimson Tide. According to Commodore quarterback Diego Pavia, that extended to the moments before the 40-35 upset in Nashville.

Meanwhile, the Tide seemed to take VU lightly, at least according to Pavia, who said during a Monday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show that UA’s captains were talking trash during the coin toss.

Kalen DeBoer and his first-year staff are plowing new snow when navigating the wreckage of a loss few could’ve fathomed. He’s got the fashion police writing t-shirt tickets on top of legitimate complaints over gameplans and adjustments to Vanderbilt’s dynamic offense.

But the conversation Monday also turned to emotions.

Too much.

And not enough.

We hit the full spectrum with a discussion of fifth-year captain Malachi Moore’s late-game blow-up (for which he publicly apologized) to DeBoer’s lack of Saban-style rage in the ashes of a baffling loss.

Five games into his Alabama tenure, DeBoer stood at the Monday news conference podium and defended his frustration level and the response Moore had to his.

“They were talking crazy,” Pavia said. “They thought they were gonna come in here and treat us like we were an FCS team? And we were like, “What? You must not know. Alright, we’re gonna see.’ I kept telling them, ‘We’re gonna see, we’re gonna see, we’re gonna see.’ They were talking, laughing. I can’t say it on the show because I can’t curse, but they were talking crazy.”

Alabama’s coin toss contingent includes captains Jalen Milroe, Tyler Booker, Malachi Moore and Deontae Lawson. Moore created a scene later in the game as Vanderbilt was running out the clock, throwing his mouthpiece and kicking the ball after officials spotted it for the Commodore kneeldowns.

The Crimson Tide won the coin toss and deferred.

“When said, you know, ‘We’re taking the ball, they’re kicking off,’ we didn’t even shake their hands after,” Pavia said. “We just took off to the sideline.”

Vanderbilt got ahead by two touchdowns early and never looked back. Pavia was the star of the show for the Commodores, throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, and adding another 56 yards on the ground as he orchestrated the VU option attack.

Alabama will be back in action on Saturday as it looks to recover from the Vanderbilt loss against South Carolina. The game is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT in Tuscaloosa and will be aired on ABC.

This moment was inevitable given DeBoer’s more even-keel presence (except if a referee misses a pass interference flag). The external expression of outrage scale was broken for anyone who followed Nick Saban’s 17 years he spent not masking any of his feelings in Tuscaloosa.

The same was true for Jalen Hurts, whose version of an Eli Manning face was mistaken for disinterest in moments of adversity.

On Saturday, the EKG of DeBoer’s postgame news conference wasn’t much different from an average Monday at noon in Tuscaloosa. Not a flat line but the line wasn’t dancing like so many grew to expect from his predecessor when performance and discipline slipped.

The outside response was concerning enough that DeBoer was asked Monday if he had a message to fans who wanted to see more fire Saturday night. He was noticeably caught off guard by the question since he asked for it to be repeated.

“Oh, I’m extremely frustrated,” DeBoer said. “We all are. But we’re not gonna lose our cool over that. We understand what happened, and a lot of what I see in the response even in the locker room – I guess are you talking like the press conference afterward or something? Because that’s really the only time you could have seen me, I guess.”

Once more, Welcome to Alabama.

He went on to say the players’ response he saw in the locker room between the final gun and walking into the interview room contributed to his relaxed presentation.

“I had my part in there, too, where we understood what happened and that it’s not up to our standard and how we had to proceed forward,” DeBoer continued. “And so yeah, we were all extremely frustrated. But we aren’t gonna sit and lose our cool because I don’t think that’s the right way to go about it. There’s a time and place for everything.”

And it’s just not DeBoer’s personality to scorch earth at the microphone. To do so would be disingenuous.

That’s also what made the very next moment in Monday’s news conference notable.

The question that followed one about the perception of his missing frustration was one about defensive back Malachi Moore’s outburst. How would Moore be held accountable for his unsportsmanlike conduct flag after slamming the head of Vanderbilt’s QB into the turf and then refusing coaches demand to come to the sideline to cool down?

Was a suspension possible?

What followed was arguably the most emotion DeBoer’s shown at a podium since he arrived from Washington in January. First off, no on the suspension part of it. DeBoer said they handled it internally and that Moore “went above and beyond taking ownership” of his actions.

While not pinging a Saban meter, DeBoer then showed as much emotion as we could recall defending Moore’s character.

“The thing I want to make sure ‘Bama fans know is that this guy has been rock solid and been a critical, critical piece -- along with others; there are some others as well -- of keeping this thing together since January,” DeBoer said. “When a lot of guys chose to leave, this guy stood firm. This guy loves Alabama football. He works relentlessly out there every single day on the football field.”

It’s all of those factors and the fact Moore isn’t some hothead freshman who flew off the handle at the first sign of adversity. He’s a seasoned veteran in Year 5 -- a Saban recruit who played on the 2020 national title team that was a model for mental toughness and discipline. The Hewitt-Trussville grad is also as respected within the program as any player who has come through that building in recent years.

So DeBoer defended the player who had drawn justified criticism for losing his cool in such a public setting.

The coach also recognized the contrast of concerns within these consecutive questions.

“It’s the passion that I hope -- I mean, the question was asked about me and the passion and frustration,” DeBoer said. “I mean, that’s what you saw from him. And so yeah, there were some things that he regrets and wishes he probably didn’t do, yeah. But he’s owned up to it, and we’ve handled it internally and still handling it internally.”

From the outside looking in, a suspension would’ve been justified when stacking the factors and offenses.

But if passion from DeBoer was your complaint from Saturday, his defense of why he’s not sitting the captain for Saturday’s visit from South Carolina should at least scratch that itch.

It was proportional. Nowhere in the Saban neighborhood, but that’s a measuring stick some of us need to break.

This is DeBoer’s ship to steer and the results will be his to wear.

He knows that whether you see it or not.