Very soon, expectations for Alabama Football will begin to be shaped by the reality of games. Current perspectives may change, but there is a sense that certain attitudes will persist for the 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide throughout the season.
Before Saturday's season-opener, it is worthwhile to remember how the 2024 season ended. Widespread disappointment went deeper than a 9-4 record. Worse was how the final losses happened. Against Oklahoma and Michigan, a hapless Crimson Tide offense scored a total of 16 points. The Sooners were a 5-5 team when Alabama faced them in Norman. ESPN's Chris Low aptly described the Wolverines as a "substandard Michigan squad."
Even with an Iron Bowl win, the finish bore no resemblance to an Alabama program both widely hated and feared. The 2025 season is a hinge point. A pivot is required. There are good reasons to believe the pivot has been in progress for months.
Chris Low has followed Cecil Hurt as the most connected and thoughtful follower of Alabama Football. Low's work is so good that he can be forgiven for attending the University of Tennessee and residing in Knoxville.
Low recently wrote a piece titled: How Kalen DeBoer looks to make things right in Year 2 at Alabama. It is filled with good insight from Low, but more important for Alabama football fans are the quotes from players and coaches.
Alabama Football Quotes
- Head Athletic Trainer Jeff Allen provided an important reminder: "When you're going through a transition, performance and consistency tend to suffer. A lot of people forget how hard that transition was under Coach Saban. We beat Tennessee and almost beat [eventual national champion] LSU and then lost two weeks later to Louisiana-Monroe."
- About a 2025 mindset, Tim Keenan III said, "We got to remember that we're Alabama. People want our heads on a platter. They're not going to get it."
- Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb talked about the immediate difference he saw in the 2025 team compared to what he saw for the few weeks he was involved in 2024 before leaving for the Seattle Seahawks: "I saw a bunch of hungry kids that wanted to make Alabama football great and that some of the things that were maybe holding them up weren't there anymore. Transitions take time. Transitions take a ton of energy and investment."
- Alabama defensive leader LT Overton provided a succinct explanation of why and how the transition Grubb spoke about will succeed: "... this year, it's not going to matter who we play."
What can Alabama fans fairly expect in the coming season? As the Alabama Crimson Tide was so often under Nick Saban, there is a chance, perhaps even a good chance, that in 2025-26, Alabama can only lose by beating itself.