Perspective is a beautiful thing.
The eternal Alabama optimist can laud Kalen DeBoer for his successes in two seasons in Tuscaloosa.
The Crimson Tide beat Georgia in both regular season matchups, qualified for the SEC Championship game in 2025. Made the College Football Playoff and won a road playoff game.
Pretty good.
The Alabama detractor has just as much ammunition to the negative. He’s lost eight games in two seasons. One of those was to Vanderbilt. He was also smoked by a 5-7 Florida State team and mustered only seven points against Georgia in Atlanta. Indiana didn’t even break a sweat against the Tide in a 38-3 beatdown out in Pasadena.
Not so good.
The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of all that. Now DeBoer enters year three where Crimson Tide fans will expect progress.
FOUR GAMES, FIVE WEEKS
What happens to Alabama from October 10 to November 11 likely seals the Tide’s 2026 fate. That’s an oversimplification. No Alabama season can truly be defined without an Iron Bowl result, and there are road trips to three other SEC venues sandwiched around the October-November gauntlet. I just don’t see the Tide losing to Kentucky, South Carolina or Vanderbilt.
It’s possible, but that’s a whole different discussion.
The stretch I’m referring to is: vs. Georgia, at Tennessee, vs. Texas A&M, @ LSU.
If DeBoer can navigate that stretch 3-1, he’s a playoff coach for a second season. At 2-2, Alabama is still afloat, but the margins are thin. Lose three, and there will be a mutiny in Tuscaloosa.
PHYSICAL FOOTBALL
No one is mistaking this era of football for 2012, but Alabama needs to run the ball.
The Crimson Tide finished the 2025 season 15th in the SEC in rushing attempts and yards per game. Only LSU was worse in both categories. The Tide ranked 125th nationally in rushing yards per game. That’s hard to type.
In their four losses, Alabama ran for an average of 46.7 yards and a total of two touchdowns. It was a finesse football team that was exposed late in the season.
To make a push at a national title, that will have to be fixed in a hurry.
WHICH WILLIAMS
Ryan Williams exploded onto the college football scene as a 17-year-old freshman in 2024. Last season, he faded out of the spotlight. Drops were a massive problem for the sophomore.
He’s changed his name to Ryan Colman-Williams to honor his mother’s family. Will he regain the form that made him among college football’s most explosive players?
Former five-star Keelon Russell and Washington transfer Austin Mack will battle for the quarterback job to get Williams involved. For the Tide to be a force this year, Coleman-Williams will have to create big plays.
