Benjamin Ashford|Opinion: Kalen DeBoer won't soon live down Alabama's humiliating loss to Vanderbilt

• Kalen DeBoer won't live this down. He lost to Vanderbilt. Let that sink in. Vanderbilt.
• Vanderbilt hero Diego Pavia rules the state of Alabama.
• Nick Saban gives Vanderbilt bulletin-board material,Benjamin Ashford while Alabama feasts on rat poison.

Kalen DeBoer will never live this down.

He lost to Vanderbilt.

Let that sink in.

Vanderbilt.

The school the SEC lets hang around to prop up its academic and women's bowling bona fides just beat Alabama 40-35 at home.

Crimson Tide fans who invaded Vanderbilt’s stadium watched in horror as No. 2 Alabama suffered one of its most shocking losses in program history.

Alabama lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years. DeBoer earns a résumé line that Nick Saban, Mike Shula, Dennis Franchione, Mike DuBose, Gene Stallings and Bill Curry avoided: He lost to the SEC’s brainiacs.

Saban managed to navigate past a comparable humiliation. He lost to Louisiana-Monroe in his first Alabama season. Saban went on to win six national championships at Alabama, but even so, any college football fan can recite that the GOAT lost to ULM in his first season in Tuscaloosa.

Those were different circumstances, though. Saban didn’t inherit a roster fresh off a Rose Bowl appearance. His Crimson Tide team was not ranked, when it fell to Louisiana-Monroe.

DeBoer’s squad had national championship aspirations. Those goals remain plausible, but they're diminished after this performance.

HIGHS AND LOWS: Alabama's upset leads Week 6 winners and loss

A loss to Vanderbilt anchors down Kalen DeBoer

Losses like this this cling to a coach like an anchor.

Saban rebounded, but many never recover from such a humiliation.

And, make no mistake, this result should humiliate DeBoer.

Yes, Vanderbilt is substantially improved in Clark Lea’s fourth season. And, yes, Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia rules the Yellowhammer State.

While quarterbacking New Mexico State last season, Pavia toppled Auburn. Now, he's smashed Alabama’s crown.

Forget Jalen Milroe for Heisman Trophy, and reset the odds on Pavia.

While awash with euphoria, Pavia was asked to explain the upset. He referenced God, then dropped an F-bomb during a postgame interview on the SEC Network.

That pretty much sums this up.

Lordy, how the (redacted) does this happen?

Georgia shoved Alabama’s defense into a black hole in the fourth quarter last week, and schloooop, that unit is gone. Vanderbilt possessed the ball for more than 70% of this game.

I could say Pavia did whatever he wanted to the Tide, but that would give Alabama’s defense credit for being present. The defense never deigned to show its face in Nashville.

Nick Saban gives Vanderbilt bulletin-board material before Alabama game

That rat poison Saban warned about for years? No sooner had Saban joined the “College GameDay” set, than Alabama considered rodenticide to be fine dining. Alabama nibbled on the rat bait during a Week 2 play-date with fire against South Florida. It gobbled up all five courses Saturday.

Saban, for his part, said recently in his talking-head role that Vanderbilt is the SEC’s only home venue that’s not difficult on road teams.

“You have more fans there than they have,” Saban said, while on the clock for ESPN.

Consider it bulletin-board material for Vanderbilt.

Saban told no lies about FirstBank Stadium, but the crimson-clad fans in Nashville became props in college football history, while a fog-horn blared as the final seconds ticked away, and those who showed up in black and gold tried to figure out what you do when you beat the nation’s bluest of blue bloods.

You storm the field and accept the fine.

The entire SEC (sans Vanderbilt) ought to suffer penalty for this result.

Just three weeks ago, Georgia State beat Vanderbilt. In 2019, Georgia State wrecked Tennessee.

Mercy, if the SEC expands again and admits the Panthers, they’d lay waste to this conference. Just kidding, I think.

Truth is, the gap between the college football’s elite and its lower rung is narrower than it used to be. The transfer era and deep-pocketed donors wheeling and dealing NIL deals stripped away Alabama’s ability to stockpile a three-deep of all-stars.

And still, how did this happen?

How did an Alabama team that halted Georgia’s 42-game regular-season win streak a week ago lose to a team that had not won an SEC game since November 2022?

Pavia, for one. Sixteen of his 20 passes reached their intended destination. He ran it plenty, too, and he instills in Vanderbilt a fierce spirit and a belief that no opponent is too mighty.

Alabama’s minus-two turnover ratio proved costly, too.

The scoreline went from curious amusement to five-alarm fire when Vanderbilt’s Miles Capers strip-sacked Milroe midway through the fourth quarter. The Commodores turned the takeaway into a touchdown and a two-score lead.

By then, it had started to crystalize. This would be no sleepwalk victory for Alabama. Instead, it became a disturbing loss for DeBoer that no one will soon forget.

Pavia always will be the quarterback who beat Alabama. And DeBoer forever will be the guy who lost to Vanderbilt.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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