Alabama football was still in the middle of its SEC gauntlet during its off week.
Crimson Tide tight end Josh Cuevas said Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer pinned up a PowerPoint slide with the message, "November has the games you're going to remember." There are no days off, Cuevas said. Every single game is like a national championship said.
"Especially in like team meetings and stuff, coach DeBoer is preaching, 'We're not done. We're still in the middle of it,'" Cuevas said.
Every one of Alabama 's final four regular-season games may be viewed as a challenge. And it's a challenge that does not take Alabama very far from home.
Three of the Crimson Tide's final four games are at Bryant-Denny Stadium: LSU on Saturday, Nov. 8, Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 15 and Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 22. Alabama's final regular-season home game comes against Auburn on Saturday, Nov. 29: 156 miles away and within state lines.
But the Crimson Tide has seen something like this before.
In 2021, a season that ended in a College Football Playoff National Championship game loss to Georgia, Alabama's final home game outside of the state was Oct. 16 against Mississippi State . The Crimson Tide finished its season with four straight home games against Tennessee , LSU, New Mexico State and Arkansas before facing Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Cuevas is happy to see the advantage Alabama seemingly has with its November schedule. Everyone is "more comfortable at their home stadium," he said. And no matter what time the Auburn game kicks off, he expects Alabama to get home at a reasonable time.
"It definitely feels good," Cuevas said.
Kalen DeBoer didn't realize Alabama didn't have to leave the state in November. His focus is on the advantage of three of the Crimson Tide's final four games being within the friendly confines of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"It doesn't guarantee anything," DeBoer said. "I think it still comes down to the preparation, but we definitely feel there's a home field advantage playing here at Bryant-Denny as I said. So we're looking forward to having these teams come to our place and our goal, as always, is to protect our house. So guys really take a lot of pride in that, and want to continue to do that and uphold the streak that we have."
Alabama kicks off against LSU at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football may have massive advantage to end 2025 schedule
