DeBoer took the Alabama job to be The Guy After The Guy, inviting the comparisons to the greatest college football coach of all time, and he was always going to be raked over the coals by fans whenever his first loss came. But his first loss wasn’t supposed to be this, a setback arguably worse than any loss Saban suffered with the Tide.

Lea and his staff executed a perfect game plan to beat Alabama, severely limiting the Crimson Tide’s possessions. The Commodores didn’t make any major mistakes, and were able to force just enough of them from UA to secure one of the biggest wins in program history, their first over the Crimson Tide since 1984.

Saban liked to use the phrase “rat poison,” as a way to get his players not to feel too good about themselves, to avoid letdown performances like the one we just saw from the Crimson Tide. It was frequently mocked, but it also worked.