Although former head coach Nick Saban had a legendary coaching career, his first season with Alabama in 2007 had a massive late-season upset home loss as the unranked Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks defeated the Crimson Tide 21-14.
17 years later, first-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer finds his team entering a late-season home matchup against the FCS Mercer Bears. Fans are hoping history doesn’t repeat itself.
Saban’s first season at Alabama started out strong. The team was 6-2 and ranked as high as No. 17 in the country, but it suffered tough SEC losses to LSU and Mississippi State. The team looked to right the ship against UL-Monroe as a 25-point favorite.
Early on, Alabama looked like it would handle business, as the team scored on its opening drive to go up 7-0. But Crimson Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson was intercepted each of the next two drives, preventing the team from taking control. The Warhawks returned the second pick to the Alabama 1-yard line, resulting in a touchdown to tie the game.
Wilson and the Crimson Tide offense responded immediately with a touchdown drive to take back the lead, but the team was held scoreless throughout the rest of the game. UL-Monroe notched touchdown drives in the second and third quarters to take a 21-14 lead.
Alabama had the ball in the red zone twice in the fourth quarter with chances to take the lead, but a lost fumble and a turnover on downs ruined those opportunities and sealed the team’s fate.
“We played horrible in the game,” Saban said at the 0:25 mark. “I was almost ashamed of how we represented the University and the program.”
Fresh off a major win against LSU, DeBoer can only hope the No. 9 Crimson Tide doesn’t suffer a similar loss against Mercer that would completely derail the team’s hopes of a playoff spot.
The Bears aren’t to be taken lightly. They are 9-1 on the season and first in conference play. They are also ranked No. 7 in the FCS.
“Mercer’s an extremely high-quality football team,” DeBoer said. “Us handling success coming off a game or games that we’ve had here, it’s important for us to do the right things as far as knowing no points carry over from last week.”
DeBoer and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Mercer is playing confidently due to its 9-1 record. Wommack addressed the potential difficulties with stopping the Bears’ rushing attack, headlined by Dwayne Mcgee and Micah Bell, who have a combined 1,122 rushing yards on the season.
“Their running backs run really hard,” Wommack said. “They’ve got two complimentary ‘backs, one guy that’s really fast and when he gets into space, he can break away, and another guy that’s kind of a bruiser.”
The Bears also have a stout defense that ranks eighth in the FCS with just 16.6 points allowed per game. The ability to force turnovers has been key, as the defense ranks first in the FCS with 21 interceptions and 28 turnovers.
A large part of the upset loss in 2007 against UL-Monroe was due to the Crimson Tide offense having four turnovers. Facing a Mercer defense that’s shown an impressive ability to force turnovers, it’s important that the Alabama offense does not play sloppy and turn the ball over like it did in the losses against Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Even with the Bears’ success this season, the Crimson Tide is still favored by 41.5 points. Fans will hope DeBoer’s late-season home matchup against a lower-tier opponent during his first season goes better than Saban’s.
Alabama will return to Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Nov. 16 to take on Mercer at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
