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    Kalen Deboer - 2026 Rose Bowl - Alabama Crimson Tide vs Indiana Hoosiers at Rose Bowl Stadium - Source: IMAGN
    Kalen Deboer - 2026 Rose Bowl - Alabama Crimson Tide vs Indiana Hoosiers at Rose Bowl Stadium - Source: IMAGN
    Kalen Deboer - 2026 Rose Bowl - Alabama Crimson Tide vs Indiana Hoosiers at Rose Bowl Stadium - Source: IMAGN
    Kalen Deboer - 2026 Rose Bowl - Alabama Crimson Tide vs Indiana Hoosiers at Rose Bowl Stadium - Source: IMAGN

    Is Big 10 the Best Conference? Kalen DeBoer Gives SEC Plenty to Ponder as New Reality Emerges

    Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer can no longer argue the Big 10’s rise in college football. The last three CFB National Championships have gone to Big 10 teams, including Indiana Hoosiers (2025), Ohio State Buckeyes (2024) and Michigan Wolverines (2023).

    Generally, when it comes to the most accomplished conference in college football, it goes to the SEC, but the Big 10 is also coming along nicely in the last five years. Even in college basketball, Michigan were recently crowned national champions after they defeated the UConn Huskies in the final.

    During his appearance on The Next Round, DeBoer was asked if the Big Ten is now the best conference in college sports. Rather than arguing in favor of the SEC, DeBoer acknowledged the competitiveness of the conference, citing the last three national championships going their way.

    “Well, I think I just used the words perception is reality, right? And I think that when you talk about the top end, the perception is that,” DeBoer said. “So you got to kind of do a look in and figure it out, you know, and from a standpoint of who’s winning national champions and the expectation kind of as an SEC as a whole is to win championships. That’s real, right? How am I going to argue that?

    “But I also think that the conference is in a very strong spot when you look top to bottom, you know, and how competitive it is. I’ve experienced now for two years how competitive it is each and every single week when you step on the football field. That’s in a very good place. And, you know, we just got to have those teams that can kind of get through the playoffs and win that championship, which obviously we haven’t done. So that’s a challenge for us at Alabama. Obviously, that’s a challenge for the SEC related to the question.”

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    Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer Updates on Spring Practice Schedule

    Kalen DeBoer shared an update that Alabama’s A-Day game will take place one week earlier since Morgan Wallen’s concert is scheduled at Bryant Denny Stadium on April 18.

    However, this year, the A-Day won’t mean the spring practice has ended. The program will have two more spring practices remaining after the A-Day game.

    “We still have four practices left, so just a little over two-thirds done, so to me there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done between now ,and we finish next Thursday,” DeBoer said. “I know a lot of times the spring game and the A-Day is the end. Just with the way the schedule worked and being in the stadium and things like that on the 11th, there’s a lot of things we have accomplished.”

    DeBoer also added that their spring practices have been trending upwards. The program is one of the best in the SEC, and the conference’s hopes lie on their shoulders.

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