Kalen DeBoer’s first season leading the Alabama football program had some high highs and some low lows.The home victory over then-No. 2 Georgia and the 42-13 road thrashing of then-No. 14 LSU were impressive, Nick Saban-esque moments. The losses to unranked conference opponents Vanderbilt and Oklahoma were decidedly not.Those slip-ups, along with a loss at Tennessee, left the Crimson Tide as the first team out of the 2024 College Football Playoff.Year 2 for DeBoer brings more expectations at Alabama, which starts the season ranked No. 8 in the AP poll. And it begins Saturday with a trip to Tallahassee, Fla., for a game at Florida State in a matchup of college football bluebloods which are in quite different positions entering the season.FSU is coming off a 2-10 season in 2024, its worst record in 52 years.”We know (FSU has) got a lot they want to prove. They want to open up their season in a big way,” DeBoer said. “I think the guys have done a great job of just focusing on us, on what we can control, being in the moment.”Alabama has made playing in marquee opening games a bit of a tradition recently, but the Crimson Tide’s past kickoff matchups have all been played at neutral sites. This marks the first time since 2000 that the Tide start the season with a nonconference road game.Consistency will be key for Alabama this season after it lost three games to unranked opponents in 2024. Saban, by comparison, was a remarkable 123-4 over his Alabama career against unranked opponents.With Jalen Milroe off to the NFL, Alabama will be introducing a new starting quarterback, Ty Simpson, against the Seminoles. The No. 3 QB in the 2022 recruiting class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Simpson has waited three years for his time to take over the reins in Tuscaloosa.
