Tide Takes: What just happened?

Every Monday, we present “Tide Takes”, where we’ll get into a different topic on the Crimson Tide, break down the previous game, preview the upcoming game, and everything in between.

This is certainly not the way anyone thought this week would begin as the Alabama Crimson Tide prepare to welcome South Carolina next week in Tuscaloosa.

Most, if not all, would have guessed the Tide would be 5-0, still sitting at No. 1 in the AP Poll and preparing for another conference game that fans could take an assumed victory in for granted. After all, Alabama was playing Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Much to the chagrin of those same fans, Alabama wound up suffering what was the worst defeat in the history of the the program. Nick Saban lost to ULM in his first season, Mike Shula lost to Northern Illinois, Mike DuBose somehow lost TWICE to Louisiana Tech, and this loss is worse than all of them.

None of those losses came with a roster anywhere near as talented as what Kalen DeBoer has inherited in year one, and there’s not even a comparable situation in the area of talent.

Alabama had not lost to Vanderbilt since 1984, and it has not even been close.

In the previous seven matchups between Alabama and Vanderbilt going back to to 2001, the Tide has given up a combined 40 total points. The team gave up 40 on Saturday alone.

It’s a defensive collapse the likes of which have not been seen from a major program in a very long time. Vanderbilt possessed the ball for 42 minutes compared to just 18 for Alabama. The team simply could not get off the field against an opponent that they should have overmatched.

The magnitude of this defeat really can’t be overstated. It’s embarrassing, it’s humiliating — it’s whatever possible negative adjective you can think of to describe it. Just one week after what looked like a signature early DeBoer victory against Georgia, any goodwill he earned is now gone. That is the cost of losing to Vanderbilt.

DeBoer has just learned a much-needed lesson: Nothing is guaranteed in this league. If you show up without your ‘A’ game, you can lose on any given Saturday of the season.

The entire season is not lost for Alabama, even though it should feel like it. But things better get right — and fast. One more loss pushes the Tide to the brink even in the expanded playoff era.

Up next is an 11 a.m. matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks at home this weekend. If DeBoer had any trouble getting his team motivated for the Vanderbilt game, that issue should be resolved now.