On October 23, 2026, Dan Patrick relayed a source's claim that Alabama is no longer Alabama because it lacks the big money required in college football. The source pointed to spending on the offensive and defensive lines, Georgia's Kirby Smart blueprint, and a wide receiver whose price tag rose from $250,000 to $1 million in a year. The discussion frames Alabama's two-game losing streak as a money problem rather than a coaching one. The claim rests on a single unnamed source and has not been independently confirmed.