Kalen DeBoer will have no issues motivating his 2025 Alabama football team with plenty of media pundits ranking the Crimson Tide low.
It has been many years since Alabama football could credibly use the “nobody believes in us!” mantra. For Kalen DeBoer and the 2025 Crimson Tide, they won’t be short on motivation next season as the media is already writing them off as potential contenders for a national title.
Alabama is used to being the favorite. They’re used to being the hunted, the standard that everyone else strives to be. Following Nick Saban’s retirement and a disappointing 9-4 debut campaign for DeBoer in 2024, that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.
Alabama looks to be heading into the 2025 season as more of an afterthought. While Vegas still has some confidence in the Crimson Tide, the national media seems to think Alabama will be a good, not great team next season, and unlikely to be a real threat to win a national championship, something that is always the goal in Tuscaloosa.
Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman published their “way too early” Top 25 for 2025 on On3 on Monday ahead of the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame national championship game.
Seeing where the Crimson Tide is ranked is going to take some getting used to:
Alabama comes in at 14th on their ranking, and sixth in the SEC. Obviously, these polls are meaningless, but it gives you an initial glance as to what the national perception currently is surrounding the program. At No. 14, Alabama is the sixth-ranked SEC team in the poll.
Take it with a grain of salt, though, as the On3 duo has Auburn ranked No. 11. I get some are bullish on Hugh Freeze and the Tigers after a good recruiting class and Transfer Portal haul, but they’ll have to show me on the football field after four consecutive losing seasons on the Plains before I’d be willing to bet on them being a borderline Top 10 team.
Alabama has plenty of talent returning in 2025 but will have to figure out the QB position in order to be a serious contender in the SEC and National Championship race.
