Jumbo Package: Phil Steele is bullish on the 2026 Tide

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Happy Friday, everyone. Throwing dirt on Alabama is all the rage these days, but Phil Steele isn’t joining the party. He has the Tide firmly in the playoffs and competing for a national title.

“Bama fans were not happy losing the SEC title game and ‘only’ getting to the second round of the playoffs, but DeBoer has a national title contender this year,” Steele wrote of the Tide.

Steele ranked Alabama as his No. 1 surprise team for the 2026 season. While other publications predicted the Crimson Tide will miss the College Football Playoff, he placed UA No. 8 nationally in his preseason rankings.

He noted the battle between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell to take over for Ty Simpson as Alabama’s starting quarterback.

“A first-year starting QB did well for them last year, and one will do well this year,” Steele wrote.

Here’s hoping Phil has it right.

ESPN staff wrote about X factors for each top 25 team, and you will agree with their Alabama choice.

X factor: Offensive line coach Adrian Klemm

The Alabama offensive line has not played up to par over the past several seasons, so coach Kalen DeBoer did something about it, replacing Chris Kapilovic with Klemm. Over the course of his career, Klemm has worked both in the NFL and college ranks. His task may be a simple one — improving the line — but the challenge is enormous. Alabama lost six of its top seven offensive linemen and brought in 11 new players. Of the six transfer linemen signed, only two started on the FBS level. Alabama was one of the worst teams in the SEC at running the ball. Blocking well, opening holes and improving this area has to be the top priority. — Adelson

Big House believes it’s time to pump the brakes on all the negativity surrounding the sport.

The ride was always wildly unpredictable, but only a handful of the bluest bloods could realistically win the whole thing.

Now, anything feels possible.

Everyone’s on the hunt for the next Indiana, and even if one doesn’t replicate that unpredictable rise, we’ll enjoy that search.

And the fun is in the hope.

This isn’t to completely discount the legitimate concerns about some structural deficiencies within the sport and college athletics as a whole.

They’re real. Some real bozos have steered this ship into choppy waters for failing to read the tides and currents.

If you’re as dissatisfied as my interactions indicate, speak with your wallet. Or your viewership/attendance.

Because the marketplace is the only place a message can be received/direction altered.

And, as Rhule noted, there’s been no evidence of a nationwide boycott to protest the evils of college football in 2026.

Sorry Mike, but this is no longer college football.

Kool Aid McKinstry spoke about the 2023 Tennessee game in Tuscaloosa.

“We were playing Tennessee, and they had just beat us the year before, my sophomore year, in Tennessee,” said McKinstry. “We came out kind of flat. We got to halftime and it’s just like something clicked in my head. Like, ‘Man I ain’t going through how I felt last year like that again.’ Because so many times in that game (in 2022) we could have won that game and put that game away — even though they came out on us 21-0 (at the beginning of the game).

“So I felt like we were kind of playing that same type of way (in 2023). And I just went in the locker room, and I know the guys who were on the team remember this, and I just went off. I don’t even remember what I said. I was just thinking [recently] that I’ve got to get that video of me with whatever I was saying to Tennessee. But I just let them know, ‘This is not what we’re fixing to do.’ We came out and Isaiah Bond went deep on the first drive and we went from there. And we ended up killing them.”

Kool Aid knows he made the game sealing play in 2022 and got hosed.

Finebaum continues to have Crimson on his lips these days. Apparently Alabama’s board has made some tragic mistakes, and DeBoer is safe because they can’t afford to can him.

“Alabama has made critical strategic mistakes, and that is on the board. That’s just not on the University of Alabama,” the longtime SEC analyst said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “The real question I have, if this is not rectified in a relatively short period of time, the overall philosophy, then five years from now is going to be too late. Alabama cannot just walk into college football and take it over again. It is a historical power, but so was Nebraska.”

“I think he’s probably a lot safer than he appears,” Finebaum said. “And the reason is economics. Alabama can’t afford to buy him out right now unless something cataclysmic occurs. There are situations where money is not the problem, but Alabama is a long way from that.”

Finebaum’s point underscores the reality facing Alabama. DeBoer enters 2026 with stability from the administration, but patience in Tuscaloosa has limits. If the Crimson Tide continue trending upward and make another deep postseason run, the questions surrounding his future will quiet considerably.

Last, ESPN has decided on a new “anthem” for its college football coverage this fall. What say you?

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.

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