Talking season is just about wrapped up. All the prognosticating is about to be out the window, and we'll have real results on the field to analyze. Nobody wins championships on paper. What you do when the lights are bright and the cameras are on is who you really are.
Alabama opens the season on Saturday at 11am against East Carolina. It's a pivotal first impression for Kalen DeBoer and his 2026 team. The last time we watched the Crimson Tide was an embarrassing beatdown by Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
There was something missing in Pasadena. Alabama didn't have the same edge or physicality that the Hoosiers had. DeBoer and the staff worked to correct that over the offseason, bulking up the trenches and ensuring that nobody forgot how last season ended.
There were some positives from last season, obviously. The Crimson Tide won 11 games, made the SEC Championship, and beat Oklahoma on the road in the College Football Playoff. But the final test of the season was a massive failure, and it left a sour taste in the mouths of Alabama fans and served to bring up further doubt nationally about Alabama's place in the sport's hierarchy in this era.
So when Alabama takes the field on Saturday to open the season against ECU, it's more about the process, not the result. Sounds familiar, right?
In particular, one word can sum up what DeBoer is looking for out of his team:
Attitude.
“I want to feel just the attitude that we’ve been building translate onto the football field on Saturday in a game situation," DeBoer said on Thursday on 'Hey Coach.' "I think there’s moments, and playing games on Saturdays is what you’re preparing for. But you just want to see progress. You want to see progress even within the game. Just each side of the ball taking the information, and we should get better, and we should execute better as the game goes on.”
Kalen DeBoer wants to see progress in all facets during Alabama's season-opener vs. ECU
DeBoer knows Alabama will be far from a finished product when they take the field on Saturday. Hopefully, fans will understand that, too. Nobody is perfect in Week 1.
But DeBoer is looking for a team on Saturday that is better in the fourth quarter than the first. One that is showing tangible signs of progress, adapting to the chaos, and overcoming any adversity that it might face.
Alabama should beat East Carolina handily. They are four-touchdown favorites after all. But the end result doesn't matter as much as the process it takes to get there. The focus is on improvement. Getting better every day in practice and adjusting and adapting throughout the game and playing your best when the chips are down in the fourth quarter.
This isn't a game that should come down to the fourth quarter, but it's the first chance for this team to flip the page on last season and start a new narrative.
The narrative currently is that Alabama is soft now. That's not Alabama football. DeBoer knows it. So does the team. That's not the standard.
Saturday brings the first opportunity to prove something different.
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