The preseason buzz around Alabama football is sliding into territory that feels almost absurd. Athlon has the Crimson Tide at No. 15 and pegged for the Gator Bowl against SMU, which is the kind of forecast that would have sounded impossible not all that long ago.
Fifteen?
Even the World Cup ended with the U.S. finishing better than that. Alabama, of course, figures to be better too.
But in this era of the transfer portal and pay-for-play, who really knows? Preseason rankings have never carried less weight.
The bigger issue is what Alabama actually is after the 38-3 loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl, a defeat that was the worst bowl loss in program history. That game split the program into two eras: everything before it, and everything after it. And then, in the middle of all that, the coach got a $2 million raise.
That’s the identity right there.
As Alabama heads toward SEC Media Days, the questions are blunt. Kalen DeBoer, the Tide’s coach, may be about as interesting as a bowl of cold ketchup soup, but the bigger concern is more basic than quarterback chatter. If Alabama can’t run the ball, none of the rest matters.
The real issue is toughness. How does Alabama answer the charge that it was soft? How does it respond after a season that included a 31-17 loss to Florida State, a scoreless stretch for three quarters in the SEC championship game, and just 23 rushing yards in the Rose Bowl after a full month to get ready?
That’s the challenge staring this team down now.
And the company Alabama is keeping only makes it stranger. LSU and Texas are being treated as the SEC’s new standard-bearers, while even Ole Miss is projected to finish ahead of Alabama. Ole Miss is coached by Pete Golding, a former Alabama defensive coordinator whom Tide fans hated, and who was pushed out by Nick Saban after Tennessee hung 52 points on his defense.
The weirdness doesn’t stop there. The offensive coordinator from that Tennessee game is now Auburn’s head coach, and plenty of people are starting to think Auburn might be better than Alabama too.
So if there’s one thing Alabama has to sort out this preseason, it’s simple: find a freaking backbone.
The question is whether this team can toughen up at all, and whether DeBoer is the right man to make that happen. If it doesn’t start this summer, after the players have heard enough about their lack of manhood, then Greg Byrne should be fired.
That’s the standard now. Soft teams lose.
Soft teams get pushed around. Soft teams go into the season and come out with results like Florida State, the SEC championship game, and the Rose Bowl.
Texas is the popular pick to win the SEC, though that doesn’t convince everyone. And in this new version of Alabama football, the whole thing can feel a little like Mike Shula - only with less spine.
In Other News...
Auburn Baseball Just Lost A Trusted Staff Fixture
Auburn baseball is losing one of its most familiar hands in the dugout, with Gabe Gross stepping away after a long run that tied him closely to Plainsman Park both as a player and a coach. Gross spent three seasons on the field for Auburn before returning to the program years later, eventually becoming a steady presence on the staff and a trusted voice around the lineup.
He served as the Tigers hitting coach for nine seasons and the associate head coach for the last three, giving him a central role in the day-to-day work that shapes a program. For Auburn, the departure marks the end of a stretch in which Gross was more than just a staff member, but a fixture whose influence was felt across multiple phases of the program. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Top 2027 Class Just Sparked A Huge Recruiting Debate
Alex Goleshs first year at Auburn has already produced an early recruiting talking point, with the Tigers sitting inside the top 15 in the 2027 class. What makes the group stand out is not a splashy headliner, but the way it has been built around multiple four-star additions across important spots, a sign that Golesh is trying to create a sturdier base for the programs future.
Names like Myson Johnson-Cook, Isaac McNeil and kicker Noah Ash give the class some real shape, even as the debate around it keeps circling back to what it does not yet have. Auburns approach under Golesh looks more patient than flashy, and for a fan base used to measuring recruiting by star power, the question now is whether this kind of foundation will age better than a class built around chasing one big prize. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Finally Feels Like The Team Fans Wanted Last Year
Auburns summer has looked a lot more like a reset than a patch job, and that is exactly why the early buzz around this roster feels different. The Tigers are bringing back only two starters from last season while adding eight new players, a wholesale turnover that has given Steven Pearl a chance to shape the group from the ground up. After a year that fell short of the standard Auburn fans had come to expect, the new mix has at least created the kind of optimism that was missing around the program a season ago.
Pearl has spent the summer talking up the teams cohesion and work ethic, two traits Auburn will need to lean on quickly with so many fresh faces in the room. The first real test comes before the winter schedule even begins, with a foreign tour in Greece set to give the Tigers extra time together and a first look at how the pieces fit. For a program trying to reclaim its edge, the next few months may matter as much for chemistry as they do for wins. [Read more 🡒]