made that beautiful catch<\/a> to complete Alabama\u2019s comeback, but DeBoer deserves some recognition for Brooks\u2019 star turn. After all, it was DeBoer himself who worked with Brooks and Alabama\u2019s other receivers in the two weeks before the first round.<\/p>\nFormer Alabama receivers coach JaMarcus Shepherd was named the head coach at Oregon State the day before the Iron Bowl. That put Alabama in a bind. Shepherd coached the game against Auburn, but Alabama has since hired former Auburn position coach Derrick Nix to coach receivers.<\/p>\n
In a pinch, DeBoer helped with Shephard\u2019s duties before the first round of the playoffs. I thought losing Shepard was going to put Alabama at a disadvantage against Oklahoma. Silly me. DeBoer\u2019s influence on the receivers room actually gave Alabama an edge.<\/p>\n
DeBoer is apparently pretty tough, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably the hardest on us if anything,\u201d receiver Germie Bernard said a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
No one believed it at the time, but I\u2019m not questioning DeBoer anymore. <\/p>\n
DeBoer delivered a Christmas miracle, and now Alabama is playing for the roses. You might be laughing, but Saban never won a first-round playoff game on the road at night after trailing by 17 points.<\/p>\n
Can DeBoer build off that success for Alabama\u2019s quarterfinal match-up against Indiana?<\/p>\n
After the win against Oklahoma, DeBoer credited Alabama\u2019s resiliency and said that good teams get better and better throughout the playoffs. For Alabama to win the Rose Bowl, it\u2019s probably going to take another All-American effort from one of the receivers.<\/p>\n
Alabama is a sizable underdog against Indiana for its New Year\u2019s Day bowl game. The Hoosiers are a 6.5-point favorite against the Crimson Tide (11-3). Indiana is undefeated (13-0) and features the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. <\/p>\n
Wait a second. Have we seen this scenario before? <\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t the Rose Bowl feel a lot like the 2009 SEC championship game?<\/p>\n
Florida was the No.1 team in the country in 2009, and a guy named Tim Tebow was the best player in college football. We all know what happened next. Alabama unseated the defending national champs and Tebow went home in tears.<\/p>\n
That was Saban\u2019s big moment. Alabama was a 4.5-point underdog, but college football was never the same after Alabama\u2019s 32-13 victory against the top-ranked Gators.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, Alabama went on to win the Rose Bowl.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not doubting DeBoer anymore. That was 2025. In 2026, I\u2019m listening with a more hopeful ear.<\/p>\n
For a long time, it seemed like DeBoer tried his best to never say anything interesting or profound. He broke that protocol earlier this week when talking about the Rose Bowl. For me, it was a window into DeBoer\u2019s brilliance.<\/p>\n
The key to winning playoff games, DeBoer said, is \u201cplaying fast in the big moments.\u201d <\/p>\n
Saban had Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch in the backfield for the 2010 Rose Bowl against Texas.<\/p>\n
Murderball, they called it.<\/p>\n
DeBoer\u2019s game is Speedball, and he\u2019s got Brooks, Bernard and Isaiah Horton. Can defenders from Indiana really cover those guys?<\/p>\n
Oh, and don\u2019t forget about that guy named Ryan Williams. <\/p>\n
MAILBAG SOUND OFF<\/p>\n
Got a Rose Bowl question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what\u2019s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an opinion column. Deck the halls. Lotzeir Brooks caught two touchdown balls. Alabama\u2019s come-from-behind victory against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-371428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}