Joel Klatt says the Alabama Crimson Tide deserve plenty of credit for their 31-13 win over LSU at Tiger Stadium in Week 10 of the 2026 college football season. But the lead Fox Sports analyst and commentator is refusing to budge on his view of the Crimson Tide's spot in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Alabama (7-2, 5-2 SEC) debuted at No. 5 in the CFP rankings, causing a collective double-take even from some of the Crimson Tide's most ardent supporters and no shortage of teeth-gnashing from their critics.
While unveiling his weekly top-10 rankings on the Monday edition of his popular video podcast and FS1 program, Klatt said that Alabama hadn't done enough to convince him it deserved to be higher than Tennessee in the selection committee's
rankings.
The Tide suffered an ugly 26-10 loss to the Vols at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 17 after playing from behind all day.
"I'm still not going with the committee," Klatt said. "Bama's performance (against LSU) did not validate their ranking from the CFP committee, because it still doesn't make sense."
"I have two eyes and watched Tennessee beat Alabama, which the committee apparently did not do," Klatt added.
That's why the lead analyst for Fox's "Big Noon Saturday" games has Alabama at No. 9 in his weekly rankings, one spot ahead of BYU, one spot below Tennessee, and two spots below Texas at No. 7.
Why that order for the three two-loss SEC teams in particular?
"Because games matter," Klatt said. "Because Texas beat Tennessee... and Tennessee beat Alabama. See, committee? It's not that difficult."
Joel Klatt says Kalen DeBoer out-coached Lane Kiffin in Alabama football win at LSU
Regardless of how he feels about the selection committee's No. 5 ranking for Alabama, Klatt had plenty of praise for the Crimson Tide following their 31-13 road win over LSU.
That praise begins with DeBoer and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack for their game plan against LSU and Kiffin, Klatt said.
"The game that we all watched and that I watched on film, that score was not indicative of the game that we saw. What Bama did a great job of was they played the game in front of them, and I thought that their game plan was great. Kalen DeBoer out-coached Lane Kiffin -- he and Kane Wommack, the defensive coordinator. And the way that they did that is they made a bet in this game. Their bet was that Lane Kiffin was gonna Lane Kiffin, and that's exactly what happened.
Klatt said that DeBoer and Wommack understood Kiffin's affinity for being aggressive and that that aggressiveness could be used against LSU.
"The way that you get Lane to be aggressive is that you let him have some success, and then once he really, really wants points because they're executing at that point, he'll be too aggressive. And that's exactly what happened."
Klatt illustrated his point by alluding to Wommack's bend-but-don't-break defense against the Tigers. Alabama yielded 457 yards of total offense and 27 first downs to Sam Leavitt and LSU but had four big stops on fourth down and had two takeaways courtesy of a Luke Metz interception and a muffed punt by LSU's Eugene Wilson III.
Klatt said that Alabama's coaching staff did something courageous against the Tigers.
"They said, 'We're going to go play and win it on the scoreboard and not worry about the stat sheet.' (Alabama) played pretty safe defense between the 20s. Then once LSU got toward the red zone, (Alabama) would roll in a changeup here or two and get them off the field, and then they would get Lane to go for it on fourth down. That was their gamble. They understood, 'Listen, we understand that there's going to be some high-leverage moments and snaps in this game, and we think we can make them and we think we can bait Lane into going for things that he wants to go for, and that's what happened.
"They played a pretty evenly matched game. If not, LSU kind of dominated in the stat sheet, but it doesn't matter. Bama wins on the scoreboard because LSU is 0-for-4 on fourth down and turns the ball over twice. So if you're minus-2 in the turnover margin, and you go for it four times and fail, guess what? You lose the game. You lose the game when you don't play well in the red zone in big-matchup games. We all know this, and that was Alabama's bet."
What LSU coach Lane Kiffin said about Alabama football after loss
— Roll Tide Wire (@RollTideWire) November 8, 2026
📸 Stephen Lew, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect https://t.co/vIKtTfUvDu pic.twitter.com/dfjP7BIixR
Alabama can beat anyone with Keelon Russell playing at elite level, Joel Klatt says
Klatt added that DeBoer and his staff bet on quarterback Keelon Russell to play his brand of football against LSU. Russell was 17 of 24 for 206 yards with three touchdown passes -- all in a span of four drives from late in the third quarter to the midway point of the fourth.
Russell also ran for 25 yards, including a critical 10-yard gain on third-and-9 late in the third quarter with Alabama driving after LSU had taken a 13-10 lead.
"He was terrific. Keelon Russell is one of my favorite players in the country and when he's good, they can beat anybody. They really can. He was great at manipulating the pocket, finding areas to scoot up and get himself free, and even be courageous and throw the ball in the face of pressure. He did a really nice job. They didn't light up the stat sheet, but they were able to wear out LSU, get in positions to score points, and then ultimately take advantage of a couple of short fields late.
"Russell made the plays that he needed to make on third down in particular, some balls that he threw in the corner of the end zone that were dimes. Leavitt didn't. Is LSU still a good football team? Yes, but Bama was so much cleaner of a football team on Saturday. That's why they won the game, and credit to Kalen DeBoer."
Kalen DeBoer is the most underrated big game coach in college football, Fox Sports analyst believes
Klatt concluded his takeaways from Saturday's game by pointing to DeBoer's record against top-25 teams and four coaching peers in particular.
"(DeBoer) gets a lot of heat, even from guys like me, and I think partly it's because they just don't run the football well enough, but you know what? That's fine. Kalen DeBoer deserves a lot of credit because he wins these high-leverage games and other guys don't. Lane's record in these games and ranked opponents in the SEC is not very good at all. It's not even close to DeBoer's.
"I'm just going to say this again: Kalen DeBoer is the most underrated big game coach other than Kirby Smart in college football. Kalen DeBoer is 9-2 against Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Lane Kiffin, and Dan Lanning in his career. Most underrated big game coach that we have in America."
LSU pregame stunt didn't work against Alabama football
— Roll Tide Wire (@RollTideWire) November 8, 2026
📸 Stephen Lew, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect https://t.co/sWw4kaeZ09 pic.twitter.com/PGkAUNdwwo
Alabama football schedule 2026
Alabama, which is No. 7 in this week's US LBM Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25, faces the Vanderbilt Commodores (4-5, 1-5) at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville in Week 11 of the 2026 college football season. Kickoff is 11:45 a.m. CT. The game can be seen on SEC Network.
All times Central.
- Sept. 5: vs. East Carolina Pirates (W, 48-10)
- Sept. 12: at Kentucky Wildcats (W, 45-17)
- Sept. 19: vs. Florida State Seminoles (W, 50-36)
- Sept. 26: vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (W, 49-18)
- Oct. 3: at Mississippi State Bulldogs (W, 56-23)
- Oct. 10: vs. Georgia Bulldogs (L, 20-17)
- Oct. 17: at Tennessee Volunteers (L, 26-10)
- Oct. 24: vs. Texas A&M Aggies (W, 31-20)
- Nov. 7: at LSU Tigers (W, 31-13)
- Nov. 14: at Vanderbilt Commodores, 11:45 a.m., SEC Network
- Nov. 21: vs. Chattanooga Mocs, 1 p.m., SEC Network+
- Nov. 28: vs. Auburn Tigers, TBA
Record: 7-2, 5-2 SEC.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Joel Klatt refuses to budge on Alabama football after win at LSU
