Kalen DeBoer and Alabama have a lot to prove in 2026. DeBoer is well aware of that. He talked openly about the Crimson Tide needing to "prove it" this season amid a sea of doubts.
It has been quite some time since Alabama entered a season this under the radar. They're still very much in the College Football Playoff conversation, but it would take some squinting and crimson optimism to find anyone who picked the Crimson Tide to win the national title.
Alabama is an afterthought in the SEC and National Championship race for most.
That might not be such a bad thing. Not since 2008 has Alabama entered a season this innocuously.
On Tuesday, the Coaches Poll was released, and Alabama came in at No. 11. It marked the first time since 2008 that the Crimson Tide was ranked outside the Top 10 in the preseason. And as ESPN pointed out, it's the first time Alabama's win total projection has been this low since 2008, too:
The last time Alabama had a lower preseason win total, they went undefeated in the regular season 👀 pic.twitter.com/yl27f9eJNw
— ESPN BET (@ESPNBET) August 3, 2026
Perhaps that's not such a bad omen?
Kalen DeBoer and Alabama will look to shock the world the way Nick Saban's team did in 2008
There are some obvious parallels between 2008 and 2026 for Alabama. 2008 was when Saban put his stamp on the program completely. He was no longer coaching Mike Shula's players; it was his team. He cleaned house of the poison in the locker room that led to 2007's free fall.
This is now DeBoer's team in 2026 for the first time. Not Saban's. It's the first time a DeBoer-recruited QB will take the reins. The roster has been completely flipped over the last two offseasons, and only a handful of Saban-era players remain. This is, finally, DeBoer's team for better or worse.
That 2008 Alabama team came in flying under the radar even further after a 7-6 year in Saban's debut season. They were ranked No. 24 to open the season and made an immediate statement on the national stage by dominating Clemson in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta.
A few weeks later, a then-Top 10 Alabama rolled over preseason No. 1 Georgia in Athens. Saban's second Tide team ultimately ran through the regular season with a perfect 12-0 record. They ran out of gas in the SEC Championship Game to eventual national champion Florida, and then were humbled in the Sugar Bowl by a hungry Utah team in New Orleans.
Alabama was similarly young 18 years ago, too. That team only had 10 scholarship seniors on it. This year's Tide team only has nine players in their final year of eligibility after the five-in-five rule passed.
The 2008 team set the table for the dynasty that was to come, and Alabama ran off three national titles in the next four seasons.
Expecting DeBoer to replicate that run of success would be foolish. Neither he nor anyone else will do what Saban did in Tuscaloosa ever again. And that's okay. Saban's run will forever stand as the best run in program history. There's no topping it.
That doesn't mean DeBoer can't win at a high level. It just means that it was always going to be less than what came before it.
But an under-the-radar Alabama team can be dangerous, just as they were in 2008. Perhaps 18 years later, DeBoer has a team ready to prove the doubters wrong.
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