There are two answers to the question of whether Alabama Football has a 2026 game that it will be unable to win. They are no, and maybe. The question may seem unserious, but it is not. Alabama has two games on its schedule in which the opponent is believed to have a clear advantage. The count could grow to three teams in an SEC Championship Game.
Simply put, the clear advantage is cash, as in player payroll. Andrew Hughes, writing for SI.com, named three football powers "falling behind in NIL spending." Alabama was one of the three. Credible reports of college team player payroll expenses are somewhere on a spectrum from blind speculation to hearsay to informed opinion. There is no verifiable precision in the numbers. Dollars cited on individual player deals often come from agents motivated to inflate them above reality.
The fuzzy picture on payroll spending suggests that Alabama opponents LSU and Texas A&M have an advantage over the Crimson Tide. Some added speculation includes Tennessee as another opponent that might have outspent Alabama. Recent research by al.com shows donor contributions to Tennessee at $110 million in the 2024-25 period. For the same period, Alabama was at $67 million. Not surprisingly, Texas was No. 1 among all SEC teams at $168 million.
Recent claims are that LSU and Lane Kiffin will have the largest player payroll in college football for the 2026 season. Estimates vary from somewhere in the high $40 millions to a staggering $60 million. Whatever the actual number, Kiffin will have a more expensive team than Kalen DeBoer.
Advantage LSU or Alabama Football Baton Rouge success continues
Does that mean Alabama will be no match for LSU in November? Absolutely not. CBS ranks the LSU schedule as tougher than Alabama's, but however LSU's first four games go, the Bengal Tigers should be on a four-game winning streak when Alabama arrives in Baton Rouge. Early odds have LSU as a 3.5-point favorite.
Even with a bye week rest, Alabama will be coming off a tough stretch of Georgia, at Tennessee, and Texas A&M. Momentum could be on the side of the Bengal Tigers.
The game could have significant Playoff implications. It will also be a milestone event in the old rivalry. With the SEC's 9-game schedule, the two teams will no longer play annually.
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