How much pressure is Kalen DeBoer under in 2025? Joel Klatt weighs in on Alabama coach

USA Today

09-06-2025

How much pressure is Kalen DeBoer under in 2025? Joel Klatt weighs in on Alabama coach
How much pressure is Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer facing in 2025?
Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt has some thoughts on DeBoer entering Year 2 in Tuscaloosa, which he shared Monday on his popular video podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast." Klatt discussed 10 head coaches under pressure entering the 2025 season.
For DeBoer, who went 9-4 in his first season as Alabama's coach last year, Klatt said he thinks that fans are still trying to be patient with Nick Saban's successor.
"At this point, the fan base right now, just trying to be patient with Kalen DeBoer," Klatt said. "Year 1 was, let's face it, a little underwhelming for DeBoer. They were 9-4. First time not winning 10 games since 2007. That was obviously Nick Saban's first year. They're not going to sit around and wait for these 8-win, 9-win seasons."
Klatt acknowledged that DeBoer was at a place where he's expected to win. "And not just win, but win big and win at the highest level of college football," he added. "Can't miss the playoff, in particular as we have expansion to 12 and we're going to be moving in 2026 and beyond to 14 or most likely 16 (teams)."
Alabama missed the playoff last season in large part because of a 24-3 blowout loss to an Oklahoma Sooners team that had won only one conference game all year before the Crimson Tide's Nov. 23 debacle in Norman.
'He's got to win that game': Joel Klatt on the biggest game Kalen DeBoer faces in 2025
Where things could get "a little uncomfortable" for DeBoer in Year 2, Klatt believes, isn't in the Crimson Tide's Sept. 27 game against Georgia in Athens.
Instead, Klatt believes the biggest pressure on DeBoer will be in Alabama's 'Third Saturday in October' rivalry clash with Tennessee on Oct. 18 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"That's the moment on the schedule," Klatt said. "Home losses, first of all, are not good, and then they would be starting really tough and in a schedule that's really more backloaded. Obviously you've got Georgia, so let's just say that if you're losing to Tennessee, you've probably lost to Georgia. So that would be your second loss in the SEC. Then you still have to go to South Carolina and host LSU.
"If you were to lose to Tennessee, who doesn't have Nico Iamaleava, and now you're about to go play LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier, I think South Carolina and LSU are both better teams than Tennessee. John Mateer is better than any option that Tennessee has at quarterback, so you still have to play Oklahoma. You still have the Iron Bowl."
In that scenario, Klatt believes a loss to Tennessee -- something Alabama hasn't suffered to the Vols at Bryant-Denny Stadium since 2003 -- would put the Crimson Tide in a position to have to run the table to avoid another 9-3 season and reach the College Football Playoff.
"We saw what 9-3 did last year, even in the SEC," Klatt said. "We thought for a lot of years that in a 12-team playoff, a 9-3 (SEC) team would go to the playoff, and guess what? That didn't happen. So the pressure would go through the roof for Kalen DeBoer."
Klatt closed his segment on DeBoer up by saying:
"That Tennessee game at home, he's got to win that game. So the pressure index for Kalen DeBoer (is) they're trying to be patient, but patience would wear out real fast if they were to lose that game at home to Tennessee."
Alabama opens the 2025 season at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee against Florida State on Aug. 30. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.
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