The Alabama Crimson Tide are facing a moment of reckoning, and college football analyst Joel Klatt isn’t pulling any punches. On a recent episode of his show, Klatt put Alabama in the spotlight-but not in the way Tide fans are used to.
He named Alabama as one of three major programs he believes are trending downward, alongside Florida State and Utah. For a program that once defined dominance under Nick Saban, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
Klatt’s take? There’s a new power structure in the SEC, and Alabama isn’t at the top of it.
Instead, he points to Georgia and Texas as the current class of the conference. That’s not just a hot take-it’s a reflection of what we’ve seen on the field.
Klatt made it clear: “They’re coming off back-to-back four-loss years. The best part of their team was Ty Simpson-by a wide margin-and they’re losing him.”
That’s a sharp critique, but it’s grounded in recent results. Alabama’s performances in the SEC Championship Game and the Rose Bowl were far from the standard set during the Saban era.
Against Georgia, they were outclassed. Against Indiana, they were overwhelmed.
Klatt didn’t mince words: “Indiana did whatever they wanted to do. They ran the ball 50 times straight at Alabama.
This is not the Alabama of two, three, four or five and certainly not 10 years ago.”
It’s hard to argue with the facts. Alabama hasn’t looked like Alabama lately.
Two straight seasons with four losses? That’s not just a blip-that’s a pattern.
And when your most reliable offensive weapon is leaving, it raises even more questions about what’s next.
Now, whether this downward trend continues is still up for debate. Klatt believes it will.
Others, especially hopeful Crimson Tide fans, are banking on a turnaround under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. But right now, the uncertainty is real.
Klatt’s commentary struck a nerve-not just in Tuscaloosa, but across the state. Auburn fans, understandably, are enjoying every second of it.
After all, when your rival has beaten you six years in a row, you take your victories where you can get them. And hearing a national analyst say Alabama is no longer top-tier?
That’s music to Tiger ears.
One Auburn-focused outlet echoed Klatt’s sentiments, quoting him as saying, “Klatt doesn't see Alabama ever heading back in the opposite direction under DeBoer... They have quickly descended into a place that, when I think about their conference, I don’t think about them initially, and I don’t even think about them in the top three. When I think about the SEC, I immediately think of Georgia and Texas and, oh, by the way, Alabama.”
That’s a stark shift in perception. For years, Alabama was the first name anyone mentioned when talking about the SEC. Now, according to Klatt, they’re an afterthought.
This isn’t about disrespect-it’s about results. And right now, the results aren’t favoring the Tide. The next chapter of Alabama football is still being written, but if Klatt’s right, the days of automatic championship contention might be in the rearview mirror.
Still, it’s Alabama. The expectations haven’t changed, even if the results have.
Whether DeBoer can steer the ship back toward national relevance remains to be seen. But make no mistake-college football is watching.