Welcome to the new reality of Alabama football
By David Wasson
Published:
For those millions who have climbed aboard the Alabama bandwagon over the past 20 years, it probably is difficult – if not impossible – to believe that there was a time locating the Crimson Tide in the polls meant starting from the bottom and going up.
We can’t blame you, of course, as you’ve only known the stratospheric success that Nick Saban brought to Tuscaloosa and unleashed on the rest of the college football universe. The brand of Joyless Murderball that defined the Tide for the entire millennium simply blotted out not only the rest of the SEC but all vestiges of common sense.
Alas, here we are again. Only this time, there is precisely zero upward momentum. Only the opposite.
If you got a welfare check-in call or text from friends following Alabama 31-17 loss to unranked Florida State last weekend, you aren’t alone. While true friends don’t let friends date Auburn women, those same brand of friends also tend to be quick to revel in the misfortune of what recently was the most dominant college football program in the land.
Because in the 127 instances Saban’s Crimson Tide took on an unranked team during his illustrious career, he only lost 4 times. Second-year coach Kalen DeBoer? He already has 4 such defeats in 10 such outings. The most recent, a desultory defeat to a Seminoles team that mustered a 2-10 season in 2024, caused shock waves to ripple outward like an earthquake causing a tsunami.
The first wave of the proverbial disaster crashed ashore Tuesday afternoon, as Alabama plummeted from No. 8 in the polls to No. 21. For posterity, the last time a Crimson Tide team was ranked that low was to start the 2008 season – when Alabama was ranked No. 24 to begin Saban’s second season in Tuscaloosa.
Back then, though, future College Football Hall of Famer Julio Jones was hitting the Capstone as part of a groundbreaking recruiting class that would eventually win Alabama the 2009 BCS national championship. The future was brightening not just from Jones’ recruitment but also from the class as a whole, as Saban had finished clearing the dead wood from his 7-6 first season and forming what would become known as The Process.
Optimism was sky-high back then for Alabama – and it only ratcheted up when the 24th-ranked Tide beat down No. 9 Clemson 34-10 in Atlanta to open what would eventually become an undefeated regular season. Alabama ended up losing to eventual national champion Florida in the SEC title game and then to Utah in the Sugar Bowl, but the cast had been set at that juncture for a historic run not seen since in modern college football.
Now? It would be one thing if Alabama lost the 2025 season opener to a 2023-caliber Florida State squad. Those Seminoles ran the table in the ACC and felt like they got hosed out of the then-4-team College Football Playoff (ironically by Saban’s Tide). But the Seminoles weren’t in high regard by much of anyone entering this season, and were barely a blip on the radar screen all summer if not for transfer quarterback Tommy Castellanos mouthing off about the Tide’s defense.
Not only did Castellanos turn out to be 100% correct in his loquaciousness, he also showed just how vulnerable Alabama could be for the rest of this season. If the Crimson Tide can lay an all-three-phases egg like that in Tallahassee, what will happen in Athens on Sept. 27? Or against Tennessee and LSU at home? Heck, even arch-rival Auburn must be licking its proverbial chops seeing Alabama stumble around for 60 minutes against FSU – knowing the Tide’s trip to the Plains on Nov. 29 feels more winnable than ever.
Like it or not, Alabama fans – bandwagon or tried-and-true – probably need to get used to the fact that the Saban Era is officially over. No more are the Crimson Tide the most feared program in America. No more do FCS fans hold up “We want Bama” signs when their team is riding high, because Alabama isn’t the standard anymore.
Are we entering the Dark Ages of Alabama football? It is simply too early to truly know, but there are 0 indicators that say that is premature speculation. Florida State not only taught Alabama a painful 60-minute lesson on the Doak Campbell Stadium field, the Seminoles also sounded the clarion call to all in crimson and white that this simply is a stunningly average football team playing in the same uniform that used to be No. 1.
No. 21 in the country. Looking up at Auburn and the rest of the SEC. Embarrassed on the road in a season opener (for the first time in 23 years, no less…) with precious few cupcakes in sight after this week’s home opener against UL-Monroe.
This is Alabama football, y’all. Welcome to the new reality.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
