Kristen Saban isn’t just a fan of Alabama because her father, Nick Saban, became a legend at the program in almost two decades of leading it. She was nearly 16 when Nick accepted the Bama job. Kristen grew up witnessing all the highs and lows the program experienced in his era. That connection was the reason she couldn’t control her emotions after watching the SABAN documentary. But now, she is forced to relive those emotions.
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“RIP SEC Championship. We sure did love you,” Kristen wrote on her IG story on November 9, reliving the 2018 SEC championship game and sharing the moments from the field.
The reason for Kristen’s post was the announcement made on Monday. The SEC confirmed that its 2026 championship game will be the final one, ending a run that began in 1992.
This year’s contest is scheduled for December 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The change is part of the CFP-approved move to a 24-team playoff, which is scheduled to take effect in 2027-28. The four major conference champions from the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 will earn places in the field, as will the highest-ranked Group of Six champion.
The committee will pick the other 19 teams. Of the 23 games in the expanded tournament, 16 will be played at the participating schools’ home stadiums. In truth, the SEC is not acting alone.
The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 have also announced that their 2026 championship games will be their last. The four leagues are clearing the first weekend of December as the playoff grows, with the new format set to begin its opening rounds in that part of the calendar.
Alabama made the SEC title game a regular stop under Nick, winning it nine times during his tenure. Few teams in the conference could match that record, and the championship game became a familiar part of Alabama’s run under Saban.
Alabama’s 2018 victory over Georgia had plenty of drama before the final whistle. The Tide fell behind, lost starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and needed Jalen Hurts to take over.
A year earlier, Hurts had lost his starting job in the national championship game to the same program. This time, he came off the bench and led Alabama to the win. By the time he lifted the trophy, his own story had come full circle.
Kristen’s Instagram stories captured the other side of that result. The game was over, the players were celebrating, and confetti was falling around the people who had spent the evening watching it unfold.
Her final video showed her father, Nick, on the stage with the team, holding up the trophy. That is the change the expanded playoff brings.
More programs will have a route into the national title race, but the SEC will no longer have a championship game to settle its season. The conference title games still have one final chapter ahead.
The conference title games still have a final chapter in the pipeline. The 2026 matchup will be the 35th time the SEC has staged the game, and the SEC intends to use the occasion to look back at its history.
As for Kristen, she will always have a deep connection with Alabama lore, especially having witnessed the program making it routine to win the SEC titles. However, she has a connection with them far beyond those trophies.
“I cried, I laughed,” Kristen wrote on her IG in November after watching Netflix’s SABAN documentary. “I remembered things I had forgotten and understood things I was probably too young to understand at the time.
“And when it ended, I just sat there in complete awe, sobbing from immense happiness and some grief.”
Kristen married Adam Setas in May 2015, and they chose Bryant-Denny Stadium for their wedding reception. It was an Alabama setting through and through, and footage from the night soon spread across college football media.
One clip showed the newlyweds riding across the field in a vintage Rolls-Royce as crimson and white fireworks lit up the stadium. Big Al also made an appearance. But the video that drew plenty of attention featured Nick Saban dancing to Greek music, a side fans rarely got to see.
As for Alabama, it still has a chance to play in the final edition of the game. Kalen DeBoer’s team currently has the second-best odds (+270 by FanDuel) to win it after Kirby Smart’s Georgia.