The Kalen DeBoer era is finally here. Alabama football is set to face off with Western Kentucky on Saturday to open the 2024 season, DeBoer’s first game as the Crimson Tide’s head coach since he replaced the retired Nick Saban in January.

Western Kentucky makes the trip to Tuscaloosa out of Conference USA. The Hilltoppers will be led by starting quarterback TJ Finley, who has previously faced off with the Tide while playing for Auburn and LSU earlier in his career.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be aired on ESPN.

Follow along here for live updates as the game begins.

Pregame

— Alabama has released its depth chart ahead of Saturday’s game. Here’s the offensive and defensive two-deeps.

— Offensive guard Jaeden Roberts is in uniform with a heavily padded left hand.

— Wilkin Formby goes with the first-team offensive line during pregame warmups.

— Kadyn Proctor left the field with Alabama’s training staff during warmups.

— Alabama wins the coin toss and defers to the second half. Western Kentucky will receive the opening kickoff.

1st quarter

15:00

— Touchback on the opening kickoff. WKU takes over on the Alabama 25-yard line.

— WKU’s headset communications aren’t working, so Alabama removes its as well.

— Que Robinson rocks WKU quarterback TJ Finley for a third-down sack. Hilltoppers punt, Alabama will start on its own 31.

12:50

— Elijah Pritchett gets the start at left tackle.

— Alabama goes three-and-out. Tide will punt. WKU will begin on its own 20.

11:20

— WKU begins on its own 20-yard line.

— Keon Sabb picks off Finley.

10:48

— Alabama starts out on the WKU 16.

— Jalen Milroe runs 12 yards for the first Alabama touchdown of the DeBoer era. Tide leads 7-0 with 10:07 left after the extra point.

Alabama Crimson Tide fans are pumped for the season-opening game against Western Kentucky. The enthusiasm will only be surpassed by how excited the players will be to play a game finally. There are many different opinions about what to expect Saturday night, none of them include giving the Hilltoppers any chance of winning.

In a full, regular-season prediction I provided a couple of days ago I settled on a 42-17 Alabama Crimson Tide win over WKU. I will not waffle on that prediction, but I will add for WKU to reach 17 points, a busted coverage in the Tide secondary must lead to a second touchdown.

It would be easy to guess Alabama’s new offense will put up more than 50 points. That is possible, but I doubt more than 50% of the Tide’s new offense will be used. WKU will likely provide so little resistance to the Alabama rushing attack, that not much will be needed through the air. Some Crimson Tide fans may disagree, but no style points are needed against WKU. Alabama will not chase points, and with new systems on both sides of the ball, Alabama possibly looking ragged at times will be no cause for alarm.

I hope to see what Kalen DeBoer has been preaching for months; consistency. Minimal penalties and no unforced errors; along with consistent intensity and execution will do fine, whatever the final score.

The Alabama NAACP issued a statement today criticizing Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl because of Pearl’s social media post earlier this week critical of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On the platform X, Pearl retweeted a post by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who claimed that Harris wanted to end private health insurance plans and put everyone, including illegal aliens, on government plans.

Pearl thanked Cotton for the message and suggested Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was trying to deceive voters by hiding her “woke progressive beliefs.”

Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said this in response to Pearl’s tweet:

“Kamala Harris is energizing her base which has a significant number of black voters, in her bid for the highest position in the country, and this is causing people to show us who they really are. Since 2014, Coach Pearl has profited off the talents and legacy of Black athletes, but by his own admission doesn’t understand the implications of his words. We do not have to ask, ‘will the real Coach Pearl stand up, because we know he does not want to understand what woke means.”

“The term ‘Woke’ solidifies the harsh conditions and inherent awareness of everyday racial injustices that people of color are subjected to in this country. One would have to be living under a rock to miss the cruel treatments inflicted on Black Americans in a place, we all call our home.

“There is no hiding the fact that Police brutality and brutal murders by police, racism, denial of equitable health care, and refusal to teach our children the truth about our history, all exist and are as visible as your hand is, in front of your face. The only way to not know what ‘woke’ is – is to just go back to sleep.”

Pearl, who has coached at Auburn since 2014, declined to comment on the NAACP’s statement.

Pearl has previously responded to criticism about expressing his opinions, including in an interview this week on Outkick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.”

“We have graduated 40 kids in the last 10 years,” Pearl said during that interview. “And I don’t know how many of them are African American. But about 80 to 90% of my players are African Americans. So you do the math. I am so proud of that. I’m proud of those kids. I’m proud of their families. I’m proud of my staff. I’m proud of Auburn.”

Pearl said he did not fault people who criticized him.

“But as a result of being criticized, I’m not necessarily just going to all of a sudden go quiet,” Pearl said. “Look, I’ve got a basketball team to coach.

“But we also are in an election period right now and there’s a lot of discussion about it. Let’s have a discussion. You know what I’d like for both of them (Harris and Donald Trump) to do? I’d like for both of them to be honest with who they are and what they stand for.”

Harris was a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders Medicare for all legislation when she was in the U.S. Senate but is not advocating for that as part of her presidential campaign.