With the season opener for Alabama football only nine days away, USA TODAY Sports has made its prediction for the Crimson Tide’s 2025 regular season record in Year 2 under coach Kalen DeBoer.

Alabama, ranked No. 8 in both the preseason top 25 polls, hopes to bounce back after its first four-loss campaign since Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa in 2007. Take away either their Oct. 5 loss at Vanderbilt or their 21-point blowout at Oklahoma on Nov. 23, and the Crimson Tide would have found themselves among a pack of two-loss SEC teams in the 12-team College Football Playoff instead of the ReliaQuest Bowl.

But hope springs anew at the beginning of every season and to that end, veteran USA TODAY Sports analyst Paul Myerberg teamed up with Jim Sergent to make record projections for Alabama and every SEC team in 2025.

Myerberg believes Alabama will finish one game above its 2024 mark and go 10-2 in the regular season and 6-2 in the SEC, tying the Georgia Bulldogs in the final conference standings. The Texas Longhorns were projected to finish atop the standings at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC.

“Alabama will be better in coach Kalen DeBoer’s second year and could end up the best team in the country,” Myerberg stated.

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SEC football 2025 projected order or finish

Here’s a look at USA TODAY Sports’ record projections for all 16 SEC teams in 2025.

Texas (11-1 overall, 7-1 SEC)

Georgia (10-2 overall, 6-2 SEC)

Alabama (10-2 overall, 6-2 SEC)

LSU (9-3 overall, 6-2 SEC)

Oklahoma (9-3 overall, 5-3 SEC)

Tennessee (9-3 overall, 5-3 SEC)

Texas A&M (8-4 overall, 5-3 SEC)

Florida (7-5 overall, 4-4 SEC)

South Carolina (7-5 overall, 4-4 SEC)

Ole Miss (8-4 overall, 4-4 SEC)

Missouri (8-4 overall, 4-4 SEC)

Vanderbilt (7-5 overall, 3-5 SEC)

Auburn (6-6 overall, 3-5 SEC)

Arkansas (4-8 overall, 1-7 SEC)

Kentucky (4-8 overall, 1-7 SEC)

Mississippi State (3-9 overall, 0-8 SEC)

How do SEC football tiebreakers work?

Here’s how the SEC determines tiebreaker procedures, per the league office:

“In the event of a tie between teams competing for a place in the Conference championship game, the following procedures will be used in descending order until the tie is broken: A. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams B. Record versus all common Conference opponents among the tied teams C. Record against highest (best) placed common Conference opponent in the Conference standings, and proceeding through the Conference standings among the tied teams D. Cumulative Conference winning percentage of all Conference opponents among the tied teams E. Capped relative total scoring margin versus all Conference opponents among the tied teams F. Random draw of the tied teams

The conference adds:

“If the regular season standings determine a clear Conference champion and two or more teams are tied for second place, the Conference champion will be the home team in the Championship Game and the tiebreaking procedures will be used to determine its opponent. “If a tiebreaker step produces standings with two teams tied for first place in the Conference, both will qualify for the championship game. To decide the seeding of the two teams, both will progress through the two-team tiebreaker procedures until the tie is broken, which will determine home/away designation for the SEC Championship Game.”

Alabama football schedule 2025

Alabama’s season opener against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on Aug. 30. The game will be televised on ABC.

All announced start times are Central time.

Aug. 30: at Florida State, 2:30 p.m., ABC

Sept. 6: vs. Louisiana-Monroe, 6:45 p.m., SEC Network

Sept. 13: vs. Wisconsin, 11 a.m., ABC or ESPN

Sept. 27: at Georgia, 6:30 p.m., ABC

Oct. 4: vs. Vanderbilt, TBA

Oct. 11: at Missouri, 11 a.m., ABC or ESPN

Oct. 18: vs. Tennessee, TBA

Oct. 25: at South Carolina, TBA

Nov. 8: vs. LSU, prime time

Nov. 15: vs. Oklahoma, TBA

Nov. 22 vs. Eastern Illinois, 1 p.m., ESPN+

Nov. 29: at Auburn, TBA

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