Alabama Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer led the Crimson Tide back to the SEC championship game last season, where the hapless Crimson Tide were blown out by the Georgia Bulldogs. After succeeding Nick Saban in Jan. 2024, DeBoer’s Crimson Tide fell out of contention for the conference title as the Texas Longhorns emerged as the new power alongside Georgia.
Alabama Faces Dire SEC Championship Prediction
Despite the SEC championship game appearance and clinching a much-coveted College Football Playoff spot, DeBoer found himself on the hot seat after being blown out by Georgia and the Indiana Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl.
The Crimson Tide’s new reality as conference underdogs was laid bare in PFSN’s College Football Playoff Meter rankings, which had coach Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns as the favorites (18%) to win the SEC championship after stellar recruitment via the transfer portal window.
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The next teams on the list were all teams that clinched a spot in last season’s College Football Playoff, including the Texas A&M Aggies (14.3%), Georgia Bulldogs (14.2%), Ole Miss Rebels (11.4%), and the Oklahoma Sooners (10.1%).
On the other hand, DeBoer’s team has a paltry 6.72% chance of winning the conference according to PFSN’s College Football Playoff Meter.
During Nick Saban’s glory-filled tenure, the Crimson Tide won nine SEC titles and posted an incredible 9-1 record in conference championship games, highlighting the current perception of the program, which does not even appear among the top five favorites to win it next season.
During last week’s segment of the “Next Round” podcast, On3 analyst Andy Staples detailed the Crimson Tide’s quarterback battle as one of the key aspects to the Crimson Tide’s College Football Playoff contention next season.
“I don’t think it’s plug and play, but I don’t think quarterback was wrong last year,” Staples said. “I think Ty Simpson carried them for most of the season. I think they gotta get the offensive line right. There’s a reason that they brought in Adrian Klemm to coach that line and they’ve also changed the tight ends coach.
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“They’ve gotta be able to run the ball, they’ve gotta be able to protect the quarterback. The Alabama that we saw at the end of the season, the Georgia, Oklahoma and Indiana games, that can’t happen. If you play a whole season like that, with a 9-game SEC schedule, you’re probably not making it to the playoff again.”
The path to glory for the Crimson Tide will be treacherous, with home games against the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies, and road games against the Tennessee Volunteers and the resurgent LSU Tigers.
