Strength of Schedule did not help '24 Alabama Crimson Tide and 2025 schedule is tougher
By Ronald Evans
The SEC Football 2025 schedule release on Wednesday did not have many surprises. The 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide will play the same SEC teams the 2024 Tide played, with the game locations reversed. The SEC road for the '25 Crimson Tide will be in Athens, GA, Columbia, MO, Columbia, SC, and Auburn. The other road game for Alabama is at FSU in Tallahassee to open the 2025 season.
No trips to Knoxville and Baton Rouge suggest the 2025 schedule will be easier than 2024, even with the Georgia game in Athens. But if FSU rebuilds adequately from its disastrous 2-10, 2024 season, Doak Campbell can be a tough atmosphere for visiting teams.
Maybe it is unwarranted superstition, but no game in Jordan-Hare can be considered an easy win for the Alabama Crimson Tide. So the 2025 schedule could prove to be tougher.
The Crimson Tide has four SEC opponents that get a bye week before playing Alabama Football. They are Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia, and LSU. Alabama's bye weeks are before the Georgia and LSU games.
Based on the ESPN FPI, Alabama had the 18th toughest schedule in college football during the 2024 season. Ten SEC teams had tougher schedules than did the Crimson Tide. The Strength of Schedule (SOS) calculation is for all games not just SEC games. During a review of the 2025 SEc schedule on the SEC Network, Paul Finbaum, Roman Harper, and Benjamin Watson picked three teams as having the toughest 2025, SEC schedule. Finebaum chose Florida; Harper picked Oklahoma and Watson picked Mississippi State. Finebaunm called the Florida schedule "brutal" and it is hard to disagree. The Gators play LSU, Miami, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Texas A&M on the road, plus having a home game against Texas in Gainesville.
2025 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Schedule
- Aug. 30 at Florida State; Sept. 6, Louisana-Monroe in Tuscaloosa; Sept. 13, Wisconsin in Tuscaloosa; Sept. 20 Open; Sept. 27 at Georgia; Oct. 4, Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa; Oct. 11 at Missouri; Oct. 18 Tennessee in Tuscaloosa; Oct. 25 at South Carolina; Nov. 1 Open; Nov. 8 LSU in Tuscaloosa; Nov. 15 Oklahoma in Tuscaloosa; Nov. 22 Eastern Illinois in Tuscaloosa; Nov. 29 at Auburn
The 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide season will have plenty of challenge.
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