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Alabama's season started and ended with embarrassing losses.
There were good moments in between, including a road playoff win over Oklahoma and a regular-season win against Georgia, but its season-opening 31-17 loss to Florida State (a team that finished 5-7) and the blowout 38-3 Rose Bowl loss to No. 1 Indiana are how the 2025 season will be remembered.
In each of those losses, Alabama was the physically inferior team. They looked soft when it mattered most. In the Rose Bowl on Thursday afternoon, Indiana looked like those old Alabama teams under Nick Saban -- perfectly comfortable running the ball over and over until it came time for a big throw. Alabama fans know that style of play as "joyless murderball," and it had to be bizarre seeing it deployed so successfully against the inept Crimson Tide this time around.
Alabama made the wrong kind of history to begin the 2026 calendar year. CBS Sports ResearchUnder former Saban disciple Curt Cignetti, Indiana resembled the old Alabama.
This new Alabama under Kalen DeBoer needs to make some big changes moving forward. This was the kind of devastating, humiliating loss that must invoke introspection. The current blueprint is not going to cut it. Everything from roster construction to staffing to cultural identity should be under review this offseason.
Is Ty Simpson the QB next year?Redshirt junior quarterback Ty Simpson will have an important decision to make soon on whether to return for another season or move on to the NFL. In recent CBS Sports mock drafts, experts Mike Renner, Blake Brockermeyer and Ryan Wilson all projected Simpson as a first-round pick.
While only a one-year starter at Alabama after backing up Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe, Simpson is already 23-years-old. If he receives good early feedback, it could be difficult to say no to leaving for the NFL, especially with multiple offensive starters like Germie Bernard and Kadyn Proctor leaving the program. It will be interesting to see how Simpson is perceived, especially after struggling in the Rose Bowl and the SEC Championship.
If Simpson is gone, Alabama should be aggressive in adding a viable transfer portal quarterback. There are 10 quarterbacks in the top 50 of 247Sports' portal rankings, including prominent names such as Florida's DJ Lagway, Nebraska's Dylan Raiola, TCU's Josh Hoover and Iowa State's Rocco Becht. If Alabama goes that path, it'll be costly -- $2 million and up for a surefire Power Four starter as CBS Sports recently reported -- but it's likely necessary given the alternatives.
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Chris Hummer
Austin Mack looked overwhelmed after coming into the game in place of an injured Simpson. Freshman Keelon Russell is a former five-star and highly regarded, but in what will be a critical year for DeBoer and his Alabama program, it'd be too risky a proposition to not bring in an experienced QB.
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb need to discuss the situation with Simpson immediately now that the season is over. And if Simpson is on the way out, Alabama needs to move aggressively and decisively for its new offensive leader.
Be more aggressive in the transfer portalRegardless of what happens at the QB position, Alabama needs to be more aggressive this transfer portal cycle. Alabama has prioritized high school players over transfer recruiting, which makes plenty of sense and is the more sustainable long-term strategy. The Tide signed the nation's No. 2 recruiting class in December, headlined by three five-star recruits.
But Alabama nearly took a complacent approach to the portal last cycle. They added a few pieces, sure, but I heard from multiple personnel folks around college football who questioned Alabama not being more aggressive in adding impact players. As one Power Four personnel person told me, Alabama would end up being aggressive in the portal during Year 3 out of desperation when it should be proactively doing it in Year 2.
And now, here we are.
Even before the portal opens, Alabama is going to have some big holes to fill with the losses of leading receiver Germie Bernard, defensive linemen Tim Keenan and LT Overton, and its two leading tacklers in linebackers Deontae Lawson and Justin Jefferson. Alabama could desperately use upgrades along the offensive line, edge-rusher and running back. There is some potential value to be found at running back, but edge-rusher and offensive line will both be costly -- as Chris Hummer and I reported earlier this week, it'll cost more than $1 million for an elite pass-rusher or offensive tackle.)
What choice does Alabama have, though? The run game was a massive liability all season, and it got exposed again against Indiana. Alabama was unwilling to spend up to get a top running back last cycle, opting instead to roll with Jam Miller and the rest of the returning backs after losing Justice Haynes to Michigan. That, obviously, didn't work out and can't be the strategy again going into 2026.
Alabama badly needs to get bigger, stronger and tougher in the trenches. Some of those solutions could come from young talent already within the program, but there's no question that additional talent infusion is needed. Now is the time to deploy the financial resources available.
How will DeBoer handle the pressure?The timing of the interest from Penn State and Michigan in hiring DeBoer was complicated. If those jobs opened up a year from now, it would have been much clearer as to whether DeBoer was a true success at Alabama or not. He would have had a better sense of whether it was time to jump to a new situation or if he had it rolling well enough that his long-term job security in Tuscaloosa wasn't in question.
Instead, it came amidst Alabama's first playoff run. The Michigan situation was especially tricky and there are still people who believe it would have gotten interesting had Alabama lost to Oklahoma in the first round.
Now, DeBoer enters a critical third season at Alabama. And, no matter what he does, he stands in Saban's shadow. It's not just the fact that he followed Saban as Alabama's head coach. Look at the five teams still alive in the CFP -- Georgia, Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon. A former Saban assistant/staffer is the head coach at every single one of them. Saban's legacy lives on in college football, and DeBoer is going to keep going up against head coaches like Cignetti who stood by Saban's side as he built college football's greatest dynasty.
Is DeBoer the guy to lead Alabama back to a national championship? The Crimson Tide looked far away from that level in Pasadena. It'll be another long offseason for DeBoer, who must answer questions about whether the program is headed in the right direction. He made a significant staff change after Year 1 in hiring Ryan Grubb as offensive coordinator. That move didn't work out as well as expected with Grubb's maddening love of second-down run plays rearing its head again against the Hoosiers.
Are there other big staff changes to be made? Does DeBoer need to prioritize different things with his program this offseason? He deserves credit for developing resiliency within this team, but it couldn't consistently display the toughness and ferocity that you expect out of Alabama teams. At the Rose Bowl, it was the other crimson team that played that way.
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