The 2025-26 Alabama football season felt like a three-hour action movie that just wouldn't end. Honestly, if you blinked, you probably missed a lead change or a transfer portal update. By the time the dust settled in the Rose Bowl, the Alabama football record this year sat at 11-4. On paper, eleven wins at a place like Alabama is usually cause for a parade, but this year was... different. It was messy. It was brilliant. It was occasionally frustrating.
Kalen DeBoer’s second year in Tuscaloosa was defined by a 7-1 SEC run that somehow ended with a blowout loss in the conference title game. It was a year where the Tide beat Georgia in Athens to snap a 33-game home winning streak, only to get throttled by a first-seeded Indiana team on New Year's Day. If you're looking for the "standard" Nick Saban era consistency, you weren't going to find it here. What you found instead was a team with a high-flying, Keelon Russell-led future and a rushing attack that, frankly, struggled to get out of its own way.
Breaking Down the 11-4 Alabama Football Record This Year
The season started with a literal gut punch. Losing the opener at Florida State 31-17 as a 13.5-point favorite had the local call-in shows in a total meltdown by Sunday morning. People were already questioning the DeBoer hire. Again. But then, the Tide went on a tear that reminded everyone why this roster is still the most talented in the country.
Alabama rattled off eight straight wins. They didn't just win; they survived a gauntlet that would’ve broken most teams. In a four-week span, they beat No. 5 Georgia, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Missouri, and No. 11 Tennessee. Think about that. Four ranked SEC opponents in four weeks. No team in the history of the conference had ever done that.
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The Playoff Rollercoaster
Despite a weird late-season loss to Oklahoma (23-21) that felt like a hangover game, Alabama squeezed into the College Football Playoff as the No. 9 seed. The rematch against Oklahoma in the first round was pure theater. Bama fell behind by 17 points early. In the Saban days, you'd expect a slow, methodical climb back. Under DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, it was a vertical explosion. They stormed back to win 34-24, securing a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Then came the Indiana game.
It’s still hard to talk about for some folks in Tuscaloosa. A 38-3 loss in a CFP Quarterfinal is the kind of scoreline that stays on a coach's resume for a long time. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza looked like an All-Pro, and the Tide’s offense just... evaporated. One field goal. That was it.
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The Identity Crisis in the Trenches
Why was the record 11-4 and not 14-1? You have to look at the run game. Or the lack thereof.
Alabama finished the year ranked 123rd nationally in rushing yards. That is an insane stat for a program built on "Joyless Murderball." They averaged just 104.1 yards per game on the ground. When you can't run, you become predictable, and when you become predictable in the SEC, you get 15 penalties for 115 yards like they did against Tennessee.
- Quarterback Play: Ty Simpson and freshman Keelon Russell showed flashes of elite playmaking.
- Defensive Resilience: Kane Wommack’s "Swarm" defense actually held up its end of the bargain most of the year, ranking 3rd in the SEC.
- Inconsistency: The gap between the Georgia win and the Indiana loss was massive.
Honestly, the coaching staff got a bit of a mixed bag in terms of grading. DeBoer is an elite recruiter—landing the No. 3 class in 2025 and eyeing a top spot for 2026—but the on-field discipline still feels a bit "loose" compared to the previous regime. Malachi Moore’s emotional outburst in the Vanderbilt game earlier in the cycle was a sign that the culture is still in transition.
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What This Record Means for the Future
If you’re an Alabama fan, you’re probably torn. On one hand, you made the playoffs and the SEC Championship in Year 2 of a new era. On the other hand, three of those four losses were blowout-style defeats.
The Alabama football record this year proves that the floor is still incredibly high, but the ceiling requires a more physical offensive line. Chris Kapilovic has his work cut out for him this offseason. The talent is there—especially with Keelon Russell, the highest-rated QB recruit in Bama history, waiting in the wings—but the "Bama Brand" of dominating the line of scrimmage has to return.
Key Takeaways for the Offseason
- Fix the Run: You cannot be 15th in the SEC in rushing and expect to win a Natty.
- Keelon Russell Era: The fan base is ready for the five-star savior to take the full-time reins.
- Playoff Experience: DeBoer is now the first coach to make the CFP with two different programs (Washington and Alabama). He knows how to get there; now he has to learn how to finish.
The 2025 season was a step in the right direction after missing the playoffs in 2024, but the 38-3 loss to Indiana ensures that nobody is getting complacent. Expect a very aggressive approach in the transfer portal this spring, specifically targeting interior offensive linemen and perhaps another veteran linebacker to shore up the middle.
To stay ahead of the curve, keep an eye on the spring practice reports starting in March. The battle for the starting offensive guard spots will likely determine if the 2026 record looks more like 11-4 or 15-0. You should also track the early enrollee progress of Michael Carroll and Dijon Lee, as both are expected to compete for meaningful snaps immediately. Transitioning from the Saban era was never going to be a straight line, but the foundation is clearly solid.