‘Must-Win’ Game for Alabama in 2025 Revealed by College Football Analyst

Last year’s Alabama Crimson Tide record was 9-3, which is respectable for most teams but doesn’t make them the SEC champions.
For the first time since 2007, when they were coached by five-time SEC Coach of the Year Nick Saban, Alabama failed not reach double-digit victories with nine wins last year.
In 2024, Alabama had new management, just like they did in 2007.
They hired Kalen DeBoer from the Washington Huskies to replace Saban.

In an episode of The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast on Monday, college football expert Joel Klatt talked about DeBoer’s reputation in Tuscaloosa and among the fans.
Klatt talked about ten college football coaches going into the important 2025 season.

He began with DeBoer. Even though the 2024 season ended badly with losses to the Oklahoma Sooners and the Michigan Wolverines in their last three games, he thinks the fans are trying to be patient.

If you thought Alabama would win, and win big, his first year as coach was “underwhelming.” A game against the Georgia Bulldogs was called a “coin flip” by Klatt, while the early season game against the Florida State Seminoles was called a “surefire victory.”
But he focused on the Tennessee Volunteers game because if they lost, fans might demand that he be fired. “You just lost to Tennessee, which doesn’t have Nico Iamaleava, and now you’re going to play South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier.” I believe that South Carolina and LSU are both better teams than Tennessee.

The game against Oklahoma is still to come. The Iron Bowl is still yours. If Alabama loses, Klatt thinks they will need to win their last three games to make the College Football Playoff.

This is especially true if they lose to Georgia as well. Even though Alabama won nine games in the regular season last year, that doesn’t mean they’ll make the playoffs. “He has to win that Tennessee game at home.” The stress level for Kalen DeBoer’s team is high. They are trying to be patient, but their patience would run out very quickly if they lost that home game against Tennessee.