CBS Sports predicts Alabama football will suffer its first loss of 2025 to this team
Expectations for Alabama in Year 2 under coach Kalen DeBoer are high. The Crimson Tide return plenty of talent on both sides of the ball, especially at wide receiver with sophomore sensation Ryan Williams following his breakout freshman season (48 catches, 865 yards) and senior Germie Bernard (50 catches, 794 yards).
Alabama's secondary unit has also earned high marks and figures to be one of the best in the nation, with cornerbacks Domani Jackson and Zabien Brown and safeties Keon Sabb and Bray Hubbard all returning. Both the secondary and wide receiver rooms rank as two of the top best in the country entering 2025 by CBS Sports, Pro Football Focus (PFF) and other national outlets.
As for the Crimson Tide's schedule, there aren't many gimmes. Alabama opens SEC play on Sept. 27 in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs, part of a five-game stretch without a bye that includes trips to both Columbia's to face Missouri and South Carolina, and home games against Vanderbilt and the annual Third Saturday in October clash with Tennessee.
The SEC hasn't had an undefeated team since Georgia's 15-0 national championship squad in 2022, and with the additions of Oklahoma and especially Texas last year, it seems unlikely the league will have an undefeated conference champion in 2025.
To that end, CBS Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford took a look at the 2025 SEC schedules for all 16 programs with predictions for each team's first loss.
Crawford believes Alabama's first loss will come at Sanford Stadium in their primetime clash with Georgia.
"Kalen DeBoer's team will be battle-tested with wins over Florida State and Wisconsin in the nonconference before opening SEC play at Georgia in Week 5. That's an early big-boy game in the conference with considerable playoff implications in the quality wins department for the victor. The Crimson Tide leaped out to a huge lead during last season's classic before the Bulldogs fought back in the second half. This time around, we're not going to see as many total points in a one-possession affair." --Brad Crawford, CBS Sports
Georgia no doubt has Alabama circled on its schedule. The Bulldogs' misfortunes against the Crimson Tide are well-documented. They're 1-9 in the series' last 10 meetings dating back to 2008's infamous "Blackout Game" in Athens, and their lone win over Alabama in that stretch came in the national championship game in Indianapolis in January 2022.
Kickoff for Alabama vs. Georgia is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on Sept. 27. The game will be televised on ABC.
Alabama will be this SEC team's first loss in 2025, CBS Sports says
Conversely, the Crimson Tide will hand one SEC team its first loss in 2025, Crawford believes. That will come on Oct. 11 when Alabama visits Faurot Field to face Eli Drinkwitz's Missouri Tigers.
Missouri has a light schedule in September. The Tigers face Central Arkansas from the FCS in the season opener before resuming their "Border War" rivalry with Kansas for the first time since 2011 in Week 2. The Tigers then face Louisiana (ULL) in Week 3 before their SEC opener against South Carolina on Sept. 27.
"Drinkwitz needs to send the SEC office a thank you card, a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates for the schedule he has received in 2025. Missouri doesn't leave its home field until Week 8 at Auburn in mid-October. Hard to believe. The Tigers play Kansas, South Carolina and Alabama during that six-game home stretch to begin the campaign and will lose at least one of those three contests." --Brad Crawford, CBS Sports
Alabama's game against Missouri was announced earlier this summer as an 11 a.m. CT kickoff on either ABC or ESPN.
Alabama football schedule 2025
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