Most people around the sport aren’t penciling Alabama into the College Football Playoff in Kalen DeBoer’s third season, and that alone makes 2026 feel a little unusual in Tuscaloosa. The roster is young, the schedule is nasty, and for once the Crimson Tide are not carrying the usual national spotlight.
That doesn’t mean the pressure is gone. It just means Alabama has to earn its way back into the conversation. DeBoer understands that the Tide need to “prove it” if they want the respect they believe they deserve.
And for this team, proving it starts with not tripping over the wrong opponent. That has been one of the biggest issues in DeBoer’s first two seasons, and it’s a big reason the criticism has stuck. Nick Saban almost never let those games slip away.
The pattern has already cost Alabama before. In DeBoer’s first year, the Tide beat No.
1 Georgia and then turned around and lost on the road at Vanderbilt. Later that season, they fell at Oklahoma.
Both teams finished 6-6 in the regular season, and those losses ended up knocking Alabama out of the playoff picture.
Last season brought another early stumble, this time in the opener against a mediocre Florida State team. Alabama recovered and still reached the College Football Playoff, but that loss wiped out any room for error before September was even over.
That’s why three dates on the 2026 schedule stand out as danger spots.
The first comes on September 12, when Alabama heads to Kentucky after opening the season at home against East Carolina. It’s the start of SEC play, and it lands with Florida State waiting the following week in Tuscaloosa.
That makes Lexington a classic trap game. Kentucky is also bringing in Will Stein, who will be trying to make an immediate statement in his first season as head coach.
Beating Alabama would do exactly that for the Wildcats.
The next one arrives on October 3 at Mississippi State. If Alabama wants the season to stay on track, the Tide have to build early momentum, because the middle of the schedule gets brutal from mid-October into mid-November.
Getting to 5-0 would give Alabama some breathing room before that stretch, and it could wind up being the difference between a playoff berth and a disappointing year. Jeff Lebby is in year three and badly needs a signature win or two, and taking down Alabama would fit the bill.
The Bulldogs came close to springing surprises on Tennessee and Texas last season, and dual-threat quarterback Kamario Taylor adds another problem Alabama has to solve. The bigger concern for DeBoer is making sure his team doesn’t glance ahead to Georgia the next week.
The final danger spot comes much later, on November 14 at Vanderbilt. That trip carries obvious baggage after Alabama’s stunning loss in Nashville two years ago, the first Vanderbilt win over the Crimson Tide in 40 years.
By then, Alabama may have no margin left in the playoff race. The Tide will also be coming out of a punishing four-game run against Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and LSU, which means they could be worn down by the time they get to Nashville.
That’s exactly the kind of spot where a tired team can get caught, and Alabama cannot afford another one of those losses if it wants to stay alive in the playoff hunt.
In Other News...
Alabama Has A Young Safety Fans May Not Ignore Much Longer
Alabama enters the season with its starting safety spots already spoken for, as Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb return to anchor the back end. Even so, the Tide have no shortage of intrigue at the position, and sophomore Ivan Taylor has been one of the names drawing attention through offseason work. With a defense that has room for depth to matter, Taylor is positioning himself as more than just a useful reserve.
Taylors path has been helped by the kind of opportunity young players need at a place like Alabama, and he has made enough of it to keep his name in the conversation heading into fall camp. Kane Wommack and Kalen DeBoer have shown they will rotate on merit, which gives Taylor a real opening if he keeps stacking strong practices. The question now is not whether he belongs in the mix, but how quickly he can turn that momentum into a role that sticks. [Read more 🡒]
Kalen DeBoer May Face Alabama QB Call He Never Wanted
Kalen DeBoer has made no secret of what he wants at quarterback: one starter, one clear hierarchy and no weekly juggling act. That preference makes sense in a system that values rhythm and command, but Alabama may be headed toward a more complicated answer entering 2026 because both Austin Mack and Keelon Russell have so little game experience behind them.
Mack has only a handful of appearances on his rsum, and Russell is still just a freshman with even less exposure. With that kind of uncertainty, the Tide could be tempted to ease both into the job early rather than hand the offense to one and hope the other stays ready, even if DeBoer would rather avoid that kind of split. The bigger question is when he settles on a starter, with a decision expected a couple of weeks before the season and potentially around Aug. 24 after the second fall camp scrimmage. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama May Already Be Leaning One Way In A Crucial Linebacker Battle
Alabamas defense is headed for a reset in 2026, and the linebacker room is one of the biggest pieces of that puzzle. Virginia Tech transfer Caleb Woodson is expected to step in as the Mike linebacker, giving the Tide a veteran anchor in the middle, while the spot next to him is shaping up as one of the more watched battles on the roster. Junior QB Reese has already done enough to put himself in the mix, with teammates and former players taking notice of the way he has developed.
Reese is not running away with the job, though, and that is what makes the competition worth following. Luke Metz is among the players pushing for that other starting role, and Alabama will spend the spring and summer trying to sort out who fits best beside Woodson. Reese has shown promise in previous seasons, and the buzz around him suggests he has a real chance to seize the opportunity, but the final call in that room still has some sorting out to do. [Read more 🡒]