Alabama handled business in week one of the 2026 football season with a strong victory over the East Carolina Pirates 48-10. Alabama heads to Lexington in week two as they face off against the Kentucky Wildcats, where they are 10.5-point favorites. But while DeBoer has been impressive in big games, he’s had trouble winning on the road when he’s expected to.
Historically, DeBoer has been among the best in the country when playing ranked opponents, holding a 20-6 record dating back to when he coached at Fresno State. DeBoer also has the highest active winning percentage in the country against ranked opponents at 76.9%.
Since 2024, Alabama is 4-1 on the road against ranked opponents. One of those games was in Athens and ended Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak. Or, more recently, going into Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff and beating a Sooner team that had handed Alabama a loss at home earlier in the season.
Where the problem with DeBoer and Alabama lies in games against unranked teams on the road. Alabama has a 7-5 record on the road or at a neutral site since DeBoer took over. 4 of those losses were to unranked teams in which Alabama was favored by at least 10.5 in each matchup.
The worst loss in the DeBoer era was against Vanderbilt in 2024. Coming off a 41-34 win against Georgia in week 5, Alabama entered Nashville ranked the No. 1 team in the country and was favored by 22.5 points. The Commodores handed Alabama their first loss of the season, 40-35 in what was one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.
That wasn’t the only loss that hurt Alabama in the 2024 season. Alabama was set up in a good position to make the College Football Playoff. Holding a record of 8-2, Alabama had two games left against 5-5 Oklahoma and 4-6 Auburn. A win and you’re in, with Alabama sitting at No. 7 in the CFP rankings heading into Oklahoma.
Alabama got dominated by Oklahoma 24-3 while being 13.5-point favorites. That loss effectively ended their season and playoff hopes.
Alabama goes into Kentucky with a lot of question marks. One of the biggest is how quarterback Keelon Russell will handle not only his first SEC start, but also his first career road start. Against East Carolina, Alabama’s offense struggled with pre-snap penalties.
Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb expressed his frustrations in his opening press conference Monday.
“First-game stuff that was disappointing; I think we could’ve operated better, he said.
All of Alabama’s unranked road losses share a similarity. Alabama either had more penalties than their opponent or the same number. Limiting self-inflicted wounds will be paramount for Alabama on Saturday.
Now, looking at Kentucky, the Wildcats completely transformed their coaching staff with a new head coach and new coordinators on both sides of the ball.
“Defensively, you have one game, offensively you have one game,” DeBoer said of the team’s preparation for a new-look Kentucky . “There’s a lot of stuff they worked on that they’re going to hold from us.”
It’s no secret that road games have been challenging for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama. In a matchup on the road against an unranked team, Alabama is favored to win.
DeBoer has shown that he can go into a rowdy environment against an unranked opponent and win, going to South Carolina as a double-digit favorite and winning that game last year. Time will tell if DeBoer and Alabama can get on the right track in games that they are supposed to win in 2026.
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