Kane Wommack is excited about the development of the 2025 Alabama Football defense. In May, his defense is not a finished product, but the Bama 'D' is far ahead of where it was last May. Last season, despite a secondary short on experience, too infrequent pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and being gashed by running plays in too many games, the Alabama Crimson Tide finished at No. 10 in the FBS for Scoring Defense, allowing an average of 17.4 points per game.
Finishing No. 10 is not bad, but more impressive is that in Alabama's last six games of the 2024 season, the Tide defense allowed an average of only 12.8 points. The best in the nation last season was Ohio State at 12.9. If the Crimson Tide had been so stingy the entire season, it would have finished No.2, just a whisker below the Buckeyes.
The 17.4 points average is the best for Alabama Football since the 2017 Crimson Tide defense allowed 11.9 points per game.
The standard to measure contemporary Alabama football defenses is the 2016 season. Against a schedule with a No. 1 SOS, the Crimson Tide allowed 13 points per game. Alabama's No. 1 defense in 2011 allowed only 7.1 points per game, but the SOS was pretty high, at No. 24. Take away the 'tin horn' game, in which Georgia Southern scored 21 points, igniting the fury of Nick Saban, and the 2011 defense was exceptional. The Crimson Tide finished the season leading the FBS, "in eight of 14 defensive categories."