Paul Finebaum isn’t backing off Alabama, even with another quarterback reset in Tuscaloosa.
The Crimson Tide took a step forward in Kalen DeBoer’s second season, finishing 11-4 after a 9-4 campaign in 2024. They got back to the SEC Championship Game, where Georgia beat them 28-7, and they also returned to the College Football Playoff. Alabama opened with a 34-24 win over Oklahoma before Indiana hammered the Tide 38-3 in the quarterfinals.
Now comes the next test: Alabama has to do it again while breaking in a third different starting quarterback in three years under DeBoer. Jalen Milroe started in DeBoer’s first season, Ty Simpson handled the job last year, and this season the competition is between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell.
Neither one brings much game experience to the table. Mack has attempted just 35 passes in his career, totaling 267 yards and three touchdowns. Russell appeared in only two games last season, but he completed 11 of 15 throws for 143 yards and two scores.
That uncertainty doesn’t seem to bother Finebaum. On "The Paul Finebaum Show," the SEC Network analyst went back and forth with a Miami Hurricanes fan and made it clear he still sees Alabama as a playoff team.
"You just can't handle the truth that Alabama football is legitimate and with a favorable schedule, they've got a really good chance of going back to the playoffs," Finebaum said. "Something you probably only dream about as a Miami fan."
The schedule is a big reason Finebaum is bullish. Alabama’s season will likely hinge on a four-game run against Georgia, at Tennessee, Texas A&M and at LSU.
Outside of that stretch, the Tide don’t face a team projected to be ranked in the preseason poll. They also get a bye week before the LSU game.
Finebaum said he thinks Alabama can finish 10-2, which would likely mean splitting those four key matchups. Tennessee could be the toughest of the bunch. Alabama has handled the Volunteers well at home, but has dropped its last two trips to Knoxville.
Georgia has been a different story in recent regular-season meetings, with Alabama winning the last two, both home and away. The Tide have also taken three straight from LSU and have won two in a row against Texas A&M, though they haven’t played the Aggies since DeBoer arrived.
If Alabama gets steady quarterback play, the path back to the playoff is right there. But after the blowout loss to Indiana, simply making the field won’t be enough. The Tide still have to show they can stand up to the best teams once they get there.
In Other News...
Alabama Still Has A Few Unbeaten Blots Fans Want Erased
Alabamas non-conference history still has a few odd little blemishes, the kind that stand out more because of how often the Crimson Tide have spent decades stacking wins against almost everybody else. Among the teams that have slipped through untouched are a handful of Power Four programs and a couple of Group of Six opponents, which makes the list feel less like a random quirk and more like a reminder that even a powerhouse can carry some stubborn gaps in its record.
The scheduling side is part of what makes those gaps so hard to close now. Alabama already has Minnesota on the calendar in 2032 and 2033, with the first meeting in Minneapolis and the second in Tuscaloosa, but getting enough non-conference games against the right kind of opponent has only gotten trickier as conference expansion keeps reshaping the sport. Some of the teams on that unbeaten list have already reached the College Football Playoff, and others could get there in the years ahead, which only adds a little more intrigue to the next chance Alabama gets to chip away at the ledger. [Read more 🡒]
CBS Ranking Reminds College Football Who Alabama Has Always Been
A fresh look at college footballs century-long hierarchy offered another reminder of how deeply Alabama has shaped the sport. CBS Sports contributor Chip Patterson slotted the Crimson Tide as the decades best team in the 1930s, the 1960s and the 2010s, while also giving the program honorable mention status in the 1920s and 1970s. The case was built the way Alabama cases usually are, by tracing national championships and era-defining runs under Wallace Wade, Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings and Nick Saban.
What makes the exercise sting a little for everyone else is how little room it leaves for debate about the Tides staying power. Sabans 2010s teams alone were a model of dominance, and the piece notes that Alabamas standard has been so consistent that it still belongs in the conversation whenever the sport starts sorting out its all-time greats. Georgia may be the current favorite in the race for the 2020s, but the larger point is harder to miss: Alabama has spent generations setting the bar, not chasing it. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama May Be Losing A Lifelong Tide Fan To This Cycle Again
Alabamas push for Monshun Sales has been one of the more intriguing recruiting threads in the 2027 cycle, especially because the five-star wide receiver grew up as a Crimson Tide fan. The staff has made a serious run at him, and by all accounts the visit went well enough to keep Alabama in the conversation as the process moves toward a decision that is expected soon.
The problem is that this is the modern recruiting game, and sentiment only goes so far when NIL enters the picture. Sales has drawn plenty of attention, and Alabama is still trying to close the gap with what he is seeing elsewhere, leaving Tide fans to wonder whether a lifelong pull toward Tuscaloosa will be enough to overcome everything else in play. [Read more 🡒]