A picture of Bryant-Denny Stadium before a game. (Photo by Brayden George on Unsplash)
The Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers both opened the 2026 football season with wins while showcasing new quarterbacks and coaches.
Alabama welcomed the East Carolina Pirates to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday to kick and the Tide rolled to a 48-10 win in the blazing heat.
All eyes were on former 5-star quarterback from Duncanville, TX Keelon Russell as he made his long-awaited debut for the Tide and he didn’t disappoint. He went 18 for 30 with 256 yards through the air and also led the Tide with 97 rushing yards on 13 scrambles.
The running game was Alabama’s downfall last year as they had the worst rushing offense in team history previous season, so the offensive line was under a huge spotlight and they looked improved. Returning junior running back Daniel Hill ran for 47 yards and 2 touchdowns while true freshman E.J. Crowell ran for 38 and the first TD for Bama this season.
Those numbers may not look like much but that’s due to Bama having a loaded backfield with five different running backs getting multiple carries. Overall Alabama finished with 227 rushing yards. Not a bad result for a team that averaged 104.1 yards per game last season on the ground.
The Tide defense did well also hold ECU to 5 total first downs and 162 total yards of offense. Senior linebacker Yhonzae Pierre had the best game of the day on defense having three tackles, one for loss, a sack, and a pick-6 in the second quarter.
There were some things to clean up, as you’d expect from a week one game. It was something head coach Kalen DeBoer mentioned in his post-game press conference: “Got some guys some valuable experience out there and a lot of things we’ll be able to take into the film room and to the practice field here this next week.”
Alabama opens Southeastern Conference play this Saturday at Kroger Field against the Kentucky Wildcats. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
Auburn’s season opener was a lot more intense as they opened in Atlanta against the Baylor Bears and it came down to one play and one yard.
Alex Golish took to the sidelines for Auburn for the first time and brought his senior quarterback from the University of South Florida with him, Byrum Brown and he was a mixed bag.
Brown went 26 for 35 with 259 passing yards but threw three interceptions and was sacked five times. The entire offensive line had more troubles than the sacks as they allowed 11 negative plays total.
It was clean on Baylor’s end as junior quarterback and Florida Gators transfer DJ Lagway had two turnovers himself. He also played through a leg injury that he suffered early in the game. Despite that, he threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns.
The stats don’t tell the story of this game though. Auburn took a 17-10 lead with 3:26 left in the game and Lagway led Baylor on a 75-yard, 14 play drive that took 3:12 off the clock to score a touchdown, but instead of going for the tie and overtime, Baylor went for the win.
In what was one of the plays of the week, Lagway rolled out and threw a pass to senior tight end Matthew Klopfenstein who caught the ball at the one-yard line. Tigers sophomore safety Eric Winters made an amazing tackle that let Klopfenstein gain nothing more, sealing Auburn’s one point win.
“I told these guys it wasn’t pretty in a lot of ways,” Golish said in his postgame press conference, “but finding a way to win is the first step and they found a way to win.”
Auburn steps on to the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium at 6:45 p.m. against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on the SEC Network.
