Fox Sports analyst says Alabama football did not improve in year 2 under DeBoer

Fox Sports College Football analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt feels Alabama football did not improve from year one to year two under Kalen DeBoer.

The Crimson Tide improved from 9-3 in 2024 to 10-2 in 2025. After missing the playoffs during the 2024 football season, the Tide made it to the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff. Alabama was also the first team to win a road game in the first round of the 12-team playoff era.

However, Klatt still feels the Tide did not greatly improve despite all of this.

“I think they got bailed out by Ty Simpson,” Klatt said on “The Next Round Live.” “Unless he played amazing, they did not have a great shot in big games. The SEC is not nearly what it was, so the idea is like look at all the games they won, look at what they did in the SEC, ahh okay… It’s just not the same league. It does not mean it is not a good league. It is a really good league, and it was deep. It was a deep league. Here is where I will give Kalen DeBoer credit. The SEC was like the top has come down, and the bottom has reason a little bit. I think it is a really tightly bunched league.”

Klatt went on to say he feels DeBoer is a great coach, but he also feels teh Tide will have trouble when going up against a team as talented as them under DeBoer.

“They win those games against teams they are similar to,” said Klatt. “What I think he is going to have trouble with is trying to beat the teams they are not better than, in what I call a matchup game. When you get into the playoffs, and you don’t have a run game, and you’re 120-whatever in yards per carry, guess what you can’t do against Indiana? Fake it. Guess what Washington couldn’t do against Michigan? Fake it. And (Michael) Penix got his head beat in.”

DeBoer gets another shot at proven Klatt and others wrong this fall.