Will Stein Isn't Shying Away from SEC Toughness

Alabama's first SEC game of the 2026 season will come against one of the SEC's six newcomers, Kentucky head coach Will Stein. Stein's second conference game will come against another SEC team that made the College Football Playoff last season, with the Wildcats traveling to College Station for a date with the Texas A&M Aggies a week after hosting Alabama.

Get our free mobile app

It mirrors the opening schedule of Eli Drinkwitz's SEC tenure at Missouri in 2020, when the Tigers hosted Alabama (who went on to win the national championship) in week one before traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee, and one of the most hostile environments in college football for a date with the Tennessee Volunteers. Missouri went 0-2 in that stretch before knocking off the reigning national champion LSU Tigers in week three. The SEC again boasts the most difficult collection of schedules in the country, with all 16 teams in the top 20 of ESPN's strength of schedule rankings.

"I'm very excited to compete in the Southeastern Conference," Stein said at his first SEC Media Days. "This is where the best players and coaches come to play football. All 16 have a top-20 hardest schedule per ESPN, all 16. They say that I'm the fourth hardest, okay? If you want to compete against the best, you come to the SEC. You just do. It's the closest thing to the NFL. It's proven. Almost every game comes down to the last possession. Home-field advantage is real in this league. I love it."

Stein was previously the offensive coordinator at Oregon, which is now in the Big Ten, before accepting the head coaching job at Kentucky. Despite being the 40th-ranked team in ESPN's FPI, the Wildcats believe they've found the right guy to lead their program to new heights after the Mark Stoops era in Lexington ran stale, and Stein has the confidence in himself to turn around a Kentucky football program that has become one of the laughing stocks of the SEC.

When asked why he thinks Kentucky can win big, Stein said, "I think because of me, to be honest. I think 'cause of me. I think I know what it takes. I have seen it at the highest levels. I know what it takes to recruit at this level. You just got to believe, man. You just got to put the ball down and play. There's really nothing else to be said."

Kentucky's first big game will come in week two, when it hosts the Crimson Tide in the opening game of SEC play on September 12.

Pearl River Resort and the Sportsbook at Golden Moon Casino bring you our coverage of SEC Media Days 2026 live from Tampa, Florida.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.