Alabama now has nation’s longest home-opener winning streak

It’s so far, so good for the start of the Kalen DeBoer era in Alabama.

While much of it wasn’t his doing (it’s largely credit to legendary former head coach Nick Saban), DeBoer helped the Crimson Tide reach a milestone by helping them to achieve the longest home-opener winning streak in the sport with Saturday’s 63-0 blasting of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

Alabama has won 23 straight home openers…

the longest active streak in the nation.

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) September 1, 2024

The record was previously held by Florida, which had not lost a home-opener since 1989 until Saturday. The Gators had dropped season-openers in recent years, including 2017 to Michigan in Dallas and 2023 to Utah in Salt Lake City, but had a multi-decade run of winning the first game at home until Miami’s 41-17 blowout in The Swamp.

DeBoer made a statment in his own right in multiple ways, though. The 63-0 win also marks the largest margin of victory for a first-year Alabama head coach for his debut in the history of the program. He coached a solid performance from the Crimson Tide in all three phases of the game, as Alabama produced 600 yards of total offense, allowing Western Kentucky to just 145 total yards on that side of the ball.

The Tide will look to keep the good times rolling as they face the South Florida Bulls up next on the schedule, entering that contest as a heavy favorite.

Crissy Froyd

Crissy covers SEC football news for Saturday Down South.