The Alabama Crimson Tide fanbase and Kalen DeBoer will have at least one thing in common during the 2026 season. The head coach and Alabama fans need a level of success that Alabama has not come close to under DeBoer. As always, for Alabama, the ultimate goal for the 2026 Alabama Crimson Tide is to win a national championship.
No national source of college football wisdom (or absent wisdom, educated opinion) lists the 2026 Alabama Crimson Tide as a national championship contender. Preseason (insanely too early predictions) have the Crimson Tide ranked as high as No. 11 and as low as No. 21.
Going back to the first BCS Championship in 1998, only three teams ranked outside the top 18 in the preseason AP Poll have become the National Champion. Indiana, preseason ranked No. 20, just did it. The other two teams that found enough magic to win it all from outside the top 18 were Oklahoma in 2000 (ranked No. 19) and Auburn in 2010 (ranked No. 22).
Nineteen of the 27 National Champions, going back to the 1999 Florida State National Championship, were preseason ranked No. 5 or higher. Eleven of the 27 were preseason ranked No. 1 or No. 2.
Hats off to Indiana for an extraordinary accomplishment. And don't look for a team to repeat the feat by 'catching lightning in a bottle' in the 2026 season.
Alabama Crimson Tide with no chance to win it all in 2026?
The Crimson Tide could rise from an outside the top 10 preseason ranking and win it all in 2026. History just doesn't favor that happening. Historically, the prospects are better if Alabama is preseason ranked in the low teens. Tennessee did it from No. 10 in 1998, Ohio State did it from No. 13 in 2002, and Florida State did it from No. 11 in 2013.
In the scorching heat of August, as Alabama's Fall Camp takes place, more than a few Alabama Crimson Tide fans will label Kalen DeBoer's team a national championship contender. Early-season success could bring most of the Crimson Nation to the same mindset.
Another historical point that hopefully will never apply to Kalen DeBoer. Since Paul 'Bear' Bryant, not a single Alabama head coach has kept the job after going four seasons without a Crimson Tide national championship. For the record, two of the coaches chose to step down for reasons unrelated to on-field performance.