With the expectations that Kalen DeBoer inherited from Nick Saban at Alabama, practically every game is a must-win for the second-year head coach after missing the 12-team College Football Playoff last season. Still, FOX college football broadcaster Joel Klatt identified what he views as the key spot on the schedule for the Crimson Tide in 2025 and explained why a loss on the Third Saturday in October could send Alabama spiraling and DeBoer to the chopping block.
“The patience would wear out real fast if they were to lose that game at home to Tennessee.”@joelklatt with more on pressure points for Kalen DeBoer in his second season with the Tide. pic.twitter.com/y71yDLTtV1
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) June 9, 2025
The Third Saturday in October is a must-win for the Tide this season… but isn’t every Saturday?
If DeBoer misses the CFP for the second-straight season, his seat won’t just get hot; considering the standard that has been set in Tuscaloosa, he’ll likely be gone, and Alabama will be searching for another new head coach. Last season, 9-3 wasn’t good enough to snag an at-large bid into the CFP, and one of those three regular-season losses was to the Tennessee Volunteers.
Now, in 2025, Tennessee is expected to be considerably worse. The Vols lost their star pass-rusher James Pearce Jr. to the NFL, along with interior defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott, and SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson. Though the bigger loss came in the spring transfer portal when Nico Iamaleava left for UCLA amid an NIL dispute with Josh Heupel’s program.
Huepel was able to land Joey Aguilar, who was slated to be UCLA’s starting QB in something akin to a transfer portal trade, but after making the CFP last season, the Vols don’t enter 2025 with national championship or even SEC title aspirations. Losing to the Vols on the Third Saturday of October, as Klatt points out, would be potentially catastrophic for the Crimson Tide.
After winning 15 straight from 2007 through 2021, Alabama has lost two of its last three meetings with Tennessee. Klatt’s right, DeBoer needs to buck that trend to preserve the Tide’s CFP hopes and his job. Especially if that loss spirals into others down the stretch of the season.
Any loss for a program like Alabama is a significant one, so the same argument could be made about nearly every game on the schedule. Losing to Vanderbilt for the second-straight year would be worse than a loss to Tennessee, as would a non-conference loss to Wisconsin or UL Monroe. Still, it seems that Klatt has fairly identified Third Saturday in October as a crucial fulcrum on which the fate of the 2025 Crimson Tide may rest.