Nobody got disrespected harder than Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Despite making the playoffs, reaching the SEC Championship, and advancing to the playoff quarterfinals, the Alabama head coach somehow still found himself snubbed outside the top 20 in the final Coaches Poll, courtesy of an AAC/American Conference head coach.

Navy head coach Brian Newberry really shook things up with his final vote in the 2026 Coaches Poll. While almost everyone else saw Alabama as a top-10 team after their solid playoff run, Newberry ranked them all the way down at No. 21.

It’s a pretty wild outlier considering the Crimson Tide actually finished No. 9 in the official poll.

What makes it even more confusing is that Alabama literally just beat Oklahoma in the first round of the playoffs a few weeks ago. Despite that head-to-head win, Newberry put Oklahoma at No. 13 on his ballot. Eight spots higher than the team that knocked them out is a diabolical work by Newberry. Not only that. To make it even worse, he even put himself in the top 18.

The other programs Newberry put over Bama:

• Vanderbilt (14th)
• Virginia (15th)
• Tulane (16th)
• James Madison (17th)
• North Texas (18th)
• Navy (19th)
• Old Dominion (20th)

Mind you, they even handed Vandy its first loss of the season and are the reason Vanderbilt didn’t make the playoffs. Old Dominion over Alabama is equivalent to ‘What’s a polar bear doing in Arlington, Texas?’

Obviously, the rest of the coaching world didn’t really agree with him for a good reason. Most coaches had Alabama around the eighth position in the poll. Two coaches, like Ryan Carty (Delaware) and Jon Sumrall (Florida), ranked them as high as No. 6.

The national title-winning head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers had Alabama at No. 12 in his top 15, even after beating them in the Rose Bowl. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was a bit more generous to his own squad, putting them at No. 7 on his ballot. He clearly felt the team deserved a boost after an 11–4 season in which they reached the SEC Championship.

At the end of the day, these final rankings are just mere opinions rather than facts, but Newberry’s ballot definitely stood out as the most significant “snub” of the year. While Bama fans might be a bit annoyed, the team still walked away with a top-10 finish.

Plus, they finished in the top 3 nationally in recruiting. It’s safe to say Bama got plenty of momentum heading into the 2026 season. But is it enough for Bama?

Kalen DeBoer and Alabama’s expectations for the 2026 season

Not going to lie, Alabama football is a mix of high hopes and a fair amount of pressure. This will be Year 3 for Coach Kalen DeBoer, and after back-to-back seasons with four losses. The fans are starting to get a little restless because the Roll Tide haven’t made it to the natty in the last four years.

But at the same time, the playing field is more even now in the brave new era of college football. The “hot seat” talk is starting to pick up as everyone waits to see if DeBoer can truly get them back to that Nick Saban level of dominance or any close because changing the handler is easier than lowering the bar.

The schedule is something to stress about. They do have some do-or-die home games against Georgia and Texas A&M. It won’t be as easy as it was before. To make things a bit more fascinating, Alabama will have to play the Tennessee Vols at Rocky Top: all three schools in one stretch.

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Plus, add in Lane Kiffin’s LSU. Long season ahead.

Some experts and coaches in the AP poll expect them to be a Top 10-12 team again, but for hell-bent Bama fans, anything less than a natty appearance would definitely feel like failure.