What Kalen DeBoer learned from last season

Alabama Crimson Tide On SI · Jul 22, 2026 20:00 · 3 min read

What Kalen DeBoer Learned from Last Season — Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer watches his team warm up for the game against Eastern Illinois on November 22, 2025. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

Alabama bounced back from a season-opening loss to make a run to the College Football Playoff before being blown out by Indiana in the quarterfinals.

Alabama showed signs of improvement in Year 2 under Kalen DeBoer, making it back to the SEC championship game and College Football Playoff. But the Crimson Tide had disappointing performances in both after an up-and-down regular season.

DeBoer's squad went 11-4 (7-1 SEC) last season. Alabama lost the season opener to Florida State before reeling off eight straight victories, including four consecutive ranked wins during that stretch. The winning streak was snapped with a home loss to Oklahoma in which Alabama turned the ball over three times.

The Crimson Tide bounced back to get a win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl, clinching a spot in the SEC title game, where it got demolished by Georgia 28-7. The overall body of work was still impressive enough in the eyes of the CFP committee to earn Alabama a spot in the 12-team field. Alabama won a first-round game on the road at Oklahoma after trailing by 17 points, but then lost to eventual nation champion Indiana 38-3 in the quarterfinals.

DeBoer talked about what he learned from last season on the set of SEC Now at SEC Media Days Wednesday morning.

“It reemphasized to me how important it is to have everyone in sync," DeBoer said. "You can have the talent, but how do you bring those guys together? How do you adjust to fit your personnel and what you're doing? And that's that's everyone. That's from me to to our coaching staff to our players. It reemphasized to me how important it is everyone being on the same page and continuing to adjust, continuing to evolve, not being stubborn in your ways. You know, understanding what it takes to win football games, and that's being physical.”

While Alabama's opener last season was on the road last year against a Power Four opponent, Florida State was coming off a 2-10 season and finished 2025 with a losing record at 5-7. The Tide should have an easier opportunity at home against East Carolina to open the 2026 season, but regardless of the opponent, DeBoer wants his team to get off to a better start.

"Going back to last year, I think coming out stronger," DeBoer said when asked about what he learned from 2025. "What is it going to take to do that? I think we did a great job responding. There’s reasons you can come up with for why we didn’t start strong, but to me, those are excuses, and we’ve just got to find ways to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

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