Despite its big win over ULM in Week 2, Alabama's 2025 college football season is still being marred by its opening loss to Florida State. Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer wants his team to internalize that energy entering another pivotal matchup with Wisconsin in Week 3.
DeBoer is aware that Alabama needs to soundly defeat Wisconsin to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. He does not want his team to forget about the Florida State loss, but rather “channel the energy” of the result.
“We better be keeping the pain of what happened Week 1 internally,” DeBoer said on the ‘Hey Coach & The Kalen DeBoer Show' on the Alabama football YouTube channel. “Again, I channel the energy channel, whatever level of frustration, being upset, whatever you want to call it. We need to channel that into our preparation. I think through two days this week, we've done a good job of continuing to not let that pain, not let that fade off and understanding we have a lot to prove. That's just one game, and it was a game we should [have won].”
The Tide are a whopping 19.5-point favorite to beat Wisconsin in their second home game of the season. The Badgers enter the game with a 2-0 record, beating Miami, Ohio and Middle Tennessee State to begin 2025.
Alabama needs Week 3 win with brutal schedule ahead
Alabama has an unforgiving schedule in 2025, making it of the utmost importance that it collects a big win over Wisconsin in Week 3. The Crimson Tide need all the momentum they can get before they roll into Athens for a massive showdown with No. 6-ranked Georgia on Sept. 27.
Once Alabama begins conference play, it receives no favors. DeBoer's team will face Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Auburn all on the road in 2025. Seven of their eight SEC games are against ranked opponents. The lone exception is Vanderbilt, which infamously beat them in 2024.
While Wisconsin still carries name value, this current version of the Badgers is a team that Alabama needs to run through if it wants to keep its title hopes afloat. Despite its undefeated record, Wisconsin has not been ranked since the early part of the 2023 season. They have looked better than many expected, but are still projected to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten.
