Kalen DeBoer Takes Clear Stance on Nine-Game SEC Schedule After Alabama’s CFP Snub

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt De Lima | Last updated May 27, 2025 5:34 PM ET

Players and coaches participated in SEC spring meetings on Tuesday, and there has been plenty of conversation about the state of the conference, especially considering the last two national champions were not from the SEC, but from the Big Ten.

The SEC had won four straight national championships from 2019 to 2022, and there's added pressure on teams like Alabama after missing the College Football Playoff (CFP) outright last season.

Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about whether he would support a nine-game SEC schedule and was reluctant to endorse such a plan after Alabama was relegated to the ReliaQuest Bowl a year ago.

The storied college football powerhouse lost three regular-season games in 2024 (Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma), all in-conference and on the road.

"You kind of wonder what would have happened if other people would have had the chance to play our schedule last year and that would only get tougher." - Kalen DeBoer when asked if being left out of the playoff makes him hesitant to support a 9-game SEC schedule pic.twitter.com/vmIkvbKCir
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) May 27, 2025

"I'm open to whatever," DeBoer said when asked about a nine-game SEC schedule. "I'm open to hearing the conversations."

"You kind of wonder what would have happened if other people had had the chance to play our schedule last year, and that would only get tougher. If you played a full nine-game SEC schedule, I know on our end going into this season, we're playing 10 Power 4 games with Florida State and Wisconsin this year on top of the eight (SEC) games."

What DeBoer excludes when listing Alabama's 2025 schedule are matchups against Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt) and Eastern Illinois (FCS).

While every team in the country plays a handful of games against significantly lesser competition, the larger conversation the SEC is having is about further bolstering schedules to give their teams, like Alabama, a better opportunity to create an improved resume leading up to the CFP.

Alabama played four out-of-conference games last season, all wins against Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer (FCS). Removing any opponent of this caliber with another SEC opponent only puts that much more pressure on programs like Alabama.

The Crimson Tide begins its 2025 regular season with an away game against the Florida State Seminoles on August 30. While FSU is typically a difficult opponent, the Seminoles are coming off a very poor season that saw them finish with a 2-10 record, their worst performance since 1974 when the team went 1-10.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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