The Alabama empire’s downfall may already be underway. Nick Saban’s retirement was supposed to be a mere baton pass—hand the keys to the kingdom to Kalen DeBoer, watch Alabama reload, not rebuild. For a few weeks in 2024, that fantasy held up. The Crimson Tide started 4-0 and torched Georgia 41-34 like it was business as usual. But after Week 5? The whole operation imploded like a poorly wired Fourth of July firework. Bama spiraled to a 9-4 finish, the program’s worst season since 2007. DeBoer’s team dropped pivotal games to Oklahoma,Vanderbilt and got cooked by Michigan in the bowl game. One minute they were darlings of the playoff race, next minute they were hanging on by threads. And now, heading into 2025, the alarm bells are deafening.

So when Paul Finebaum hopped onto McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning podcast and dropped his version of DEFCON 1, people listened. McElroy lobbed him a softball: “We’ll get you out of here with this. Is there a game that you think should be concerning?” Finebaum didn’t even flinch. “I don’t think it’s a game, even though some people will try to manufacture that,” he began, but then cut through the fat. “South Carolina… that’s the kind of game—South Carolina, a Missouri game, trying to be more South Carolina—that Alabama really can’t afford to lose.” He’s not wrong.

Forget Georgia. Forget Texas. Shane Beamer’s squad stunned the world last year with a 9-4 run. They  were low-key predicted to finish in bottom side of the SEC in the pre-season ranking. Instead, they flipped the switch and bullied everybody, even in their losses. Shane Beamer and Gamecocks kept the receipts. Circle October 25, 2025. Alabama travels to face Shane Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks in one of the loudest, rowdiest atmospheres in the SEC. Fun fact; they’re returning 9 starters from a squad that nearly snatched Alabama’s soul last season.

Back in October 2024, South Carolina took Bama to the brink in Tuscaloosa. The Tide were 20+ point favorites but barely squeaked out a 27–25 win. LaNorris Sellers—redshirt freshman and future chaos merchant—nearly authored the upset of the year. He dropped a 31-yard dime to make it a two-point game with 43 seconds left, recovered an onside kick, and had Columbia holding its breath until Alabama cornerback Domani Jackson picked off a last-gasp prayer. Let’s be real: Bama didn’t win that game. They survived it. Now? Sellers is a sophomore menace. Sellers is in everybody’s top 3 quarterbacks in the SEC. Last season, he racked up over 3,200 total yards and 25 touchdowns. He sliced Missouri for five scores, danced into the end zone to seal a W against Clemson, and treated Texas A&M like a scrimmage.

The Columbia crowd? Nightmarish. The defense? Fast and mean. And most importantly, Alabama still doesn’t have a named QB heading into fall camp. “Vegas doesn’t even like South Carolina that much,” Finebaum said, “but I don’t think there are many Alabama fans that want to look at South Carolina the way I think the media does.” Translation: Don’t say trap game out loud, but it’s a trap game. 

Josh Pate puts Kalen DeBoer on notice, pressure’s piling in Tuscaloosa

Josh Pate doesn’t do hot takes for fun. So when he said Kalen DeBoer’s honeymoon might already be expired, folks perked up. On The Late Kick Show, Pate dropped a reality check for anyone thinking nine wins would cut it again in Tuscaloosa. “Anybody who tells you that Kalen DeBoer wouldn’t have a lot of job security pressure if he only won nine games again, they’re wrong,” he said on his CFB podcast. “That wouldn’t stop a lot of people from yelling it. They yelled it about Ryan Day last year.” When Day lost to Michigan, folks didn’t just rant online. They sent death threats. Now, Bama fans probably won’t go full-blown unhinged, but DeBoer’s looking at that same kind of heat.

Alabama boosters, ex-players, and even rival coaches are circling like sharks. At most schools, 9-4 is solid. At Alabama, it’s grounds for a mutiny. The expectations are still sky-high. ESPN’s Football Power Index has Alabama slotted at No. 3 heading into the season, only behind Texas and Georgia. They’ve got a projected 9-3 finish, a 66.2% chance to make the playoff, and a 10.8% shot at the natty.

But games are not won on paper. And neither does past glory counts on the day. If DeBoer doesn’t turn all those recruiting wins and transfer portal hauls into double-digit Ws on the field, the noise gets loud. Fast. Pate even acknowledged that things looked promising under the hood—retaining talent, avoiding portal hemorrhaging, and building culture. “There are several signs indicating a positive season,” he said. But he wasn’t sugarcoating it. “If DeBoer only wins nine and barely misses out on the playoff again, they yell it.”

That October 25th game in Columbia? That’s the pressure cooker. If Alabama loses there, the playoff hopes take a massive hit. And in Tuscaloosa, missing the playoff twice in a row is treated like a felony.