The Alabama Crimson Tide is headed to the SEC Championship this weekend, but over the course of the last week or so, much of the discourse surrounding the team has been about its head coach.

Headed into the Iron Bowl, the noise surrounding Kalen DeBoer and him possibly being interested in the open job at Penn State dominated the headlines and created speculation, despite nobody from Alabama’s side of the media reporting on it.

From Penn State’s side, it was reported that DeBoer was a top target and could be pulled away from Tuscaloosa had the Tide lost the Iron Bowl and been eliminated from playoff contention, but instead, Alabama won and clinched their spot in Atlanta.

When DeBoer was asked about it on Thursday, just days prior to his biggest game at Alabama so far, he took a pretty strong stance — which brings into question just how real the noise actually was.

“We are extremely happy at Alabama, this is the first time I’ve been asked so I appreciate you,” DeBoer said to the media member who asked about the reports of Penn State. “I love the challenge, love the grind, love this place. There’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way, so I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”

Clearly, DeBoer is focused on the task at hand, and Penn State — who still has yet to fill their opening, despite almost every other job being filled by this point — is going to have to look elsewhere.

Sure, coaches who are on the cusp of leaving have not been totally truthful before, however, the DeBoer rumors simply never made any sense. When he got the opportunity to publicly address them for the first time, Saban’s successor did not hold back.

Now with his future in Tuscaloosa secured, the next goal becomes winning his first conference title and a potential bye in the College Football Playoff.