ESPN’s preseason Football Power Index has put Alabama in a familiar spot: squarely in the SEC playoff conversation, but not at the very top of the league’s pecking order.
The model gives the Crimson Tide a 41.3% chance to make the Playoff, which ranks behind Texas at 69.9%, Georgia at 63.7%, LSU at 39.7%, Texas A&M at 39.1%, Oklahoma at 28.2%, Ole Miss at 22.2% and Tennessee at 20.2%. That leaves Alabama as the SEC’s third-most likely playoff team in the preseason FPI.
The numbers also show Alabama with an 8.6-win projection, good for No. 8 in the FPI rankings and third among SEC teams. Georgia sits at 9.9 projected wins, Texas at 9.8, and then comes the Tide. Texas A&M and LSU are next at 8.4 wins apiece, followed by Oklahoma at 7.5, with Ole Miss and Tennessee both at 7.3.
The schedule piece is where the FPI gets especially interesting. Among those eight SEC playoff contenders, Texas is projected to have the toughest path and Georgia the easiest.
Still, strength of schedule only tells part of the story. The Playoff Selection Committee is said to care far more about wins and losses than SOS, and the league’s depth muddies the picture anyway.
The top 15 strength-of-schedule spots are all SEC teams, with Vanderbilt at No. 18 and Georgia at No. 20.
For Alabama, the preseason math suggests a path that doesn’t require knocking off Georgia. If the Crimson Tide can beat two of Tennessee, Texas A&M and LSU, while taking care of the games they’re expected to win, the Playoff door stays open.
There’s even a scenario where Alabama gets in at 9-3, as long as it lands a signature win against one of its best four opponents. In that case, the most likely candidates would be Georgia, LSU or Texas A&M, not Tennessee.
That’s why the FPI has generated so much buzz in Tuscaloosa. Alabama fans are leaning into it, while most of the SEC reaction has been quiet. The loudest pushback has come from Texas A&M supporters, who strongly disagree with the Aggies being placed outside the FPI top 10.
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Alabama Just Landed A Massive Piece Out Of Buckeye Country
Alabamas early push in the 2028 cycle keeps adding momentum, and the latest addition comes from Ohio in the form of 4-star offensive lineman Anthony Blalock Jr. The Youngstown product gives the Crimson Tide another blue-chip building block up front, and his pledge helps keep Alabama atop the composite rankings with six commitments already in the fold.
For Alabama, the appeal is obvious: getting in early on a player with Big Ten country roots and landing him before the heavyweight regional powers fully close in is the kind of move that can shape a class. Still, this is the part of recruiting where nothing is ever quite finished, and Ohio State is expected to keep pushing for Blalock as Alabama works to hold together an early class that has plenty of time to change. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Biggest Recruiting Wins Put DeBoer In A Saban-Level Debate
Alabamas recruiting story in the 2020s is already starting to read like a bridge between eras, with the programs biggest wins stretching from Nick Sabans closing stretch to Kalen DeBoers early work. The list naturally includes names that shaped the Tide at the top of the sport, from Will Anderson Jr. to Bryce Young, while also pointing to newer additions such as EJ Crowell, Keelon Russell and Ryan Coleman-Williams as the kind of talent that can keep the roster stocked for another run.
What makes the conversation interesting for Alabama is not just who signed, but how the staff kept landing premium players even as the program changed hands. DeBoers classes have given the Tide fresh momentum, and the debate now is whether those recent recruiting victories can stack up with the standard Saban set when Alabama was turning elite evaluations into national-title fuel year after year. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama's Receiver Board Just Got More Intriguing At A Critical Time
Alabamas wide receiver board for the 2027 cycle is starting to take on a different shape, and one of the names worth watching is Ja'Hyde Brown. The four-star receiver has made a major jump in the updated Rivals300, rising from No. 252 to No. 66 overall, a move that underscores how quickly his stock is climbing as college staffs continue to sort through their next wave of targets.
Brown is already committed to Louisville, but Alabama has shown strong interest as it evaluates alternatives at receiver and keeps building out its options. The timing matters because the Tide are still working through a crowded board, and Browns rise gives the staff another increasingly attractive path if the top of the market continues to move the way it has this summer. [Read more 🡒]