Kalen DeBoer's response to Alabama's dirty hit on Diego Pavia isn't remotely good enough

For about the past 15 years, Alabama has gotten accustomed to winning. During that same period (and for years before, too) Vanderbilt has gotten very used to losing. So when Vandy did the unthinkable and beat Alabama, 40-35 on Saturday, some 'Bama players — namely linebacker Malachi Moore — reacted like they just lost to a team they had no business losing to.

Moore was seen yelling at his teammates, throwing his mouthpiece, and kicking the football from its spot, leading to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Moore also appeared to slam the helmet of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia during one of the final plays of the game.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer talks about Moore's outburst

Losing to Vanderbilt and having to address the behavior of a player probably wasn't something Kalen DeBoer hoped he'd deal with in his first season as Alabama head coach, but here we are.

After the game on Saturday, DeBoer was light in his admonishment of Moore's, instead talking about his ability to move forward from this incident, saying, according to Tuscaloosa News, “The guy pours everything into what he does. Doesn’t make it OK. We want to be first class in everything we do. There’s a lot of guys that are very frustrated. The key is we turn that frustration into positives moving forward and make sure that we remember what we feel here tonight and remember that when we show up tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday, all season long. Malachi, I’m 100% confident he will do that.”

While coaches should always be willing to stand up for their players, DeBoer was awfully light on a player who essentially threw a tantrum in the closing seconds of a game. While college players are kids — a fact we often seem to forget — cheap shots like the one Moore pulled on Pavia after a play was over should be rebuked at every level.

This isn't to say Malachi Moore should be kicked off the team or suspended for the whole season, rather that Kalen DeBoer needs to find a better balance between expressing faith in his players' ability to mature while still reprimanding them for outbursts like this. To lump Moore in with "a lot of guys" who were frustrated, when those other guys acted normally in the game's closing seconds feels like a coach essentially dismissing some nasty behavior.

Even Moore's teammate and fellow linebacker Que Robinson was more stern toward Moore's behavior, calling it "unacceptable" and saying the team will talk with Moore. It's great to see players holding their teammates responsible, so shout out to Que Robinson. It's less of a good sign when the players are holding their teammates more responsible than the team's head coach.