Kalen DeBoer addresses if there's a 'revenge' factor for him in bowl game vs. Michigan

Kalen DeBoer addressed the potential revenge factor for Alabama as they take on Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl later this month.

Alabama fell to Michigan in last year’s College Football Playoff with a lot of the same players that returned this season in Tuscaloosa. Not only that, DeBoer’s Washington squad fell short to the Wolverines in the national championship.

But this year, there are different stakes and DeBoer doesn’t seem worried about what happened last year.

“There’s so many different pieces to this,” DeBoer said. “I get that and appreciate the question for sure. But, you know, I think this again, we’ve made it always about this team. That’s when we’ve been at our best, is when we really focus on just what it means to this program, this team. We go back to the Iron bowl. It wasn’t about anything external, it was about this group. And that’s what we will certainly keep it to, you know when it comes to getting ready for, you know, Michigan and the bowl game.”

In Nick Saban’s final season, Alabama came up just shy of returning to the national title game, but fell to eventual champion Michigan. This year’s Wolverines’ team is vastly different under Sherrone Moore, and just 7-5, but are coming off a win over Ohio State.

Alabama had bigger goals this season, including a return trip to the playoff.

DeBoer was fresh from attending Alabama’s annual awards banquet, which was held inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Practice Facility. He shared how the Crimson Tide’s players have all handled being the first team left out of the first-ever, 12-team College Football Playoff.

“Haven’t had a lot of like one-on-one talks and things like that, but certainly, they share the same disappointment but also looking forward to what lies ahead with our bowl opportunity,” DeBoer said.

“Obviously, hoping it was going to be more than one game, but we got one more game together and going to make the most of it, whether it’s this season, the 2024 team or just building on it and preparing for the future and being better because of the opportunities we get here in the next couple of weeks.”

Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC) had participated in nine of the previous 11 playoffs, but the selection committee chose to include SMU over the Crimson Tide on Sunday morning. A data point UA was hoping would be enough to sway the committee was strength of schedule. Alabama has the No. 16 schedule compared to No. 60 for the Mustangs, per ESPN’s Football Power Index.