609211102 18548452996022009 1638050933304622556 N E1769030351954 — Kalen DeBoer before the 2026 Rose Bowl. (University of Alabama Athletics)

Before completely moving on to the 2026 season, some coaches across the country had to fill out one final ballot for the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Two coaches from our state have been voting in the poll all season including Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Troy’s Gerad Parker. Both of them kept the Crimson Tide in their top 10 after Alabama made it to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Indiana.

Alabama came in at No. 9 in the final Coaches Poll as well as the final Associated Press rankings. It’s the 17th time in the last 18 seasons the Tide has been ranked in the top 10 of the final rankings and first time under DeBoer.

Keep reading to see more from the final Coaches Poll plus see the complete ballots from both DeBoer + Parker.

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Kalen DeBoer rankings

DeBoer ranked Alabama on the higher end compared to several other coaches’ ballots with the Tide coming in at No. 7.

The highest his team was ranked by a coach was at No. 6 by Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and Delaware’s Ryan Carty. Alabama was in the top 10 on 53 of the 62 ballots but was as low as No. 21—by Navy coach Brian Newberry.

DeBoer’s final poll included 7 SEC teams, five of them in the top 10. Here’s his full top 25 from the 2025 season:

Indiana
Miami (Fla.)
Mississippi
Oregon
Ohio State
Georgia
Alabama
Texas Tech
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Notre Dame
Texas
Brigham Young
Utah
Iowa
Virginia
Vanderbilt
Navy
Houston
SMU
TCU
Southern California
Washington
Michigan
Illinois

Gerad Parker rankings

The Troy football coach had Alabama at 10, the lowest of the eight CFP quarterfinalists. Parker put fellow Sun Belt team + conference champion James Madison at No. 19 in his final poll.

Here’s what Parker’s ballot looked like: