Paul Finebaum on what a Rose Bowl win would mean for Kalen DeBoer: 'Nick Saban who?'

Kalen DeBoer saved face on Friday with Alabama coming back to win and advance in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Another victory in their quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl could then, at least sarcastically, make everyone forget about the former all-time coach for the Crimson Tide, said Paul Finebaum.

Appearing on ‘Get Up’ on Tuesday morning, Finebaum answered what a win for No. 9 Alabama over No. 1 Indiana would mean for DeBoer. He said his approval rating would obviously only go up from there, making the fanbase ‘forget’ about Nick Saban, if the Tide were to knock off the Hoosiers in Pasadena.

“It’s Christmas, of course, so I don’t want to go back to Friday night and show my texts on the air (from people) who were about to put Kalen DeBoer on a plane and send him to Ann Arbor. But, that didn’t happen,” said Finebaum. “And, what that meant is that, now, he’s very popular. A win against Indiana in the Rose Bowl – and, Nick Saban who? Kalen DeBoer will own the city of Tuscaloosa.”

Again, that rating for DeBoer couldn’t have been much lower around the start of the second quarter of their opening-round game in Norman. That’s as, coming off how they ended the season, including their loss in the SEC Championship, Alabama was initially down at 17-0 to Oklahoma.

However, the Tide did mount a comeback against the Sooners, tying the game up by halftime before winning 34-24 over OU. That now has Alabama advancing in the CFP, with their next opportunity being a date on New Year’s Day against the top-ranked, last undefeated team in the country in Indiana.

DeBoer has a long way to go still before making anyone remotely forget about Saban. Still, a win over IU in the Rose Bowl would certainly end a lot of the doubts that there have been about him at times so far in T-Town.

Finebaum feels ‘pretty good’ about Alabama vs. Indiana, believes IU is vulnerable

As of Friday night, the Rose Bowl was set for its quarterfinal in the College Football Playoff, as No. 9 Alabama will play No. 1 Indiana in Pasadena. Now, with ten days still between now and New Year’s Day, Paul Finebaum has looked ahead to the matchup between the Crimson Tide and the Hoosiers, and is already feeling well about ‘Bama.

Finebaum made that initial preview this morning while on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’. It’s still early as far as breaking down the matchup, but he thinks Alabama could project to have some advantages, especially with a game already played by them in this playoff, against Indiana.

“At this moment, I feel pretty good (about Alabama),” said Finebaum. “I want to think a lot more about it, but, I mean, I think, you know, from a pure matchup standpoint, it’s not great because of how strong and disciplined Indiana is defensively. But I think there’s a lot of pressure on Indiana in this game.

“I think it would be fascinating to watch how Alabama uses the experience of going on the road and winning that, and what they take into a game where Indiana has been sitting there. And, I know this year is not a direct comparison to last year with the four bye teams because the circumstances are dramatically different. But, I think Indiana could be a little bit vulnerable, just sitting around doing nothing right now watching football while Alabama, you know, has a lot of momentum going.”