“You got more in you” Coach DeBoer once again challenges fans ahead another home game
Life in the SEC is no joke. Let's say, for example, you're the new 17th team in the conference, and you want to look into all 16 of your possible road trips. It will likely be pretty difficult to find a stadium that any team would prefer to travel to. Five of those 16 sit over 100 thousand fans, and the next two highest in capacity contain two of the rowdiest gameday atmospheres in the country (Georgia, Florida). Behind them is a seemingly endless list of snake pits that, when the sun goes down, you'd rather deal with 80 thousand clones of your mother-in-law than deal with those fanbases. Needless to say, although the final score is determined between the white lines, the environment surrounding those white lines can, without a doubt, help dictate what happens between them.
Alabama is well-versed in both sides of what the fan atmosphere brings. Last year, they traveled to both Tiger Stadium and Neyland Stadium, two of the loudest, most uninviting locations for a visiting team in the country. This year, they walked right into Sanford Stadium and ended the longest active home winning streak in the country. But when they're back home and under the lights of Bryant-Denny Stadium? The script is flipped, and every team that tried to use their fanbase against Alabama finds out why everyone in Tuscaloosa expects a win every time the Tide hosts an opponent.
Since the arrival of Nick Saban in 2007, Alabama is an apocalyptic 117-9 in games played in Tuscaloosa. Oh, and by the way, three of them came in 2007 alone. Seeing Bryant-Denny Stadium on your schedule has become nearly an automatic loss for everyone. Everyone except for the LSU Tigers, who not only beat the Saban-era Crimson Tide once in Tuscaloosa, but they've done it twice. No other team, not even the archrival Auburn Tigers, can say they've accomplished that.
Coach DeBoer holds a 9-0 home record as Alabama's head coach, but he's not taking any chances with that record on Saturday. See, if there's one downside to a home record of that magnitude, it's that complacency can start to leak into the stands. Fans got comfortable during the Saban era, so much so that he famously called out the crowd before their matchup with Tennessee in 2023. It worked, as all 100 thousand Alabama fans in the building delivered one of the loudest atmospheres in recent memory. Coach DeBoer asked the same of the home crowd for this year's version of the Third Saturday in October as well; once again, the crowd delivered.
Well, if you haven't figured out by now where this is going, you're about to. On the November 5th edition of the Hey Coach Show with Kalen DeBoer, DeBoer yet again called on his home crowd to deliver the energy ahead of the annual matchup with LSU. "I always tell our players, you got more in you. That's been our motto, really, since the beginning. I have more in me as well. So I'm going to ask the fanbase that they got more in them, too." This is the second time DeBoer has emphasized crowd noise for this game alone. Per Charlie Potter, DeBoer called out the fanbase during the weekly SEC coaches teleconference, saying that he needs the fanbase "as loud as ever."
Over the years, the Crimson Tide home game atmosphere has helped illustrate some of the best moments in recent college football memory, including game-winning plays such as Ryan Williams' famous 75-yard touchdown against Georgia last year, or Terrance Cody's "rocky block" that sealed a win against Tennessee back in 2009. Despite LSU's dysfunction this season, the roster is still lethally talented, and even the smallest slip can cost a team a chance for both a conference championship and a national title as well.