Scarbinsky: 2025 CFP is Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer vs. the Nick Saban coaching tree

Did you see it? Did you feel it? Did you understand what just happened in that moment last Saturday morning on College GameDay?

Nick Saban didn’t go viral. He got real. He didn’t toss out a gratuitous cuss word to make the rodeo clown next to him giggle. He let his guard down, put aside the coachspeak and spoke from the heart.

Saban, on the set in College Station before the Miami-Texas A&M playoff game, started to ask a question of Kalen DeBoer, who was back in Tuscaloosa after the stirring comeback victory at Oklahoma the night before. The GOAT veered off-script and off-brand for just a moment.

“God, I’m proud of ya,” Saban said, “and I’m proud of the team.”

DeBoer, on a split screen, didn’t change his expression, but you had to wonder if something fundamental had changed between the coach who stepped down in T-town and the coach who stepped up to take his place.

Before Oklahoma, Saban had questioned Alabama’s toughness because the Tide got bullied by Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, but toughness can show itself in different ways beyond a punishing running game. By withstanding the atmosphere, energy and incipient avalanche against the Sooners, DeBoer’s second Alabama team displayed an inner strength few understood it possessed.

Saban, whose teams routinely struggled to meet the moment in Auburn’s raucous house, seemed to understand the significance of what his successor had just accomplished. DeBoer, before getting to Saban’s question about what’s next, simply responded, “Appreciate that, coach.”

Do you understand the river running through the 2025 College Football Playoff? Do you appreciate that Saban’s influence on the sport has never been on more vivid display?

Of the eight teams remaining in the chase for the national championship, five of them are coached by former Saban assistants at Alabama. Unless Ryan Day and Ohio State or Joey McGuire and Texas Tech disrupt the storyline, DeBoer and the Crimson Tide may have to go through three Saban proteges to add his own statue to the Walk of Champions.

Up next: Indiana and former Alabama wide receivers coach Curt Cignetti in the quarterfinals on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. Win there, and DeBoer could face Oregon and former Alabama graduate assistant Dan Lanning in the Jan. 9 semifinals in the Peach Bowl.

Win there, and DeBoer could meet Georgia and former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart or Ole Miss and former Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding or Miami and former Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal in the Jan. 19 National Championship Game in Miami.

In a symbolic way, DeBoer has been competing with Saban’s shadow every single day since accepting the challenge to follow him. For the rest of this postseason, DeBoer may have to tangle with three branches of the Saban coaching tree.

Fun fact: DeBoer is 7-2 against Team Saban. He’s 2-1 against Smart, 3-0 against Lanning, 2-0 against Steve Sarkisian and 0-1 against Cristobal. DeBoer and Fresno State lost to Cristobal and Oregon 31-24 in 2021.

Cignetti is the most intriguing character in this Saban family Christmas play. While Smart is the son of Saban generally acknowledged as most like his coaching father, Cignetti didn’t fall far from the tree, either. He shares Saban’s disdain for mediocre people and dumb questions. The Indiana coach has a sharp edge to his wit, his tongue and his approach to attacking opponents.

He and DeBoer have never squared off as head coaches, but their resumes have a shared history. Each has coached at the other school. Cignetti was Alabama’s receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007-10, working with the program’s foundational recruit, Julio Jones. He left to start his head coaching journey at Indiana University – of Pennsylvania, a Division II school where his dad, Frank, had been a highly successful head coach.

DeBoer spent the 2019 season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator. The Hoosiers went 8-5, their best season in 26 years, which helped DeBoer land his first FBS head coaching opportunity at Fresno State.

They bring different reputations into the Rose Bowl. DeBoer is the giant killer who’s 4-0 against top-10 teams in true road games as a head coach. Cignetti is the miracle worker who’s 24-2 in two seasons at historically inept Indiana.

This one may tie Saban’s heartstrings in knots. Cignetti helped him pour the foundation of Alabama’s dynasty, and long before that, Cignetti’s father hired Saban as his defensive backs coach at West Virginia. Meanwhile, Alabama is the school that gave Saban the chance to take his career to an elite level. He’s still a paid ambassador, and the field in Bryant-Denny Stadium is named in his honor.

Alabama AD Greg Byrne went outside the Saban family to hire his successor. DeBoer keeps reinforcing the wisdom of that decision. Making Saban proud added to the confirmation. Mowing down one Saban protege after another to win a national title would be the ultimate validation.