Alabama Begins As the Favorite Against Floundering ACC Powerhouse
We’re over 200 days away from the Alabama Crimson Tide kicking off the 2025 season and one sportsbook is already bullish on them for their season opener.
FanDuel Sportsbook has released its first batch of lines for Week 1 games this fall and has Alabama as an 8.5-point favorite for its season opener against Florida State on August 30. The Tide will travel down to Tallahassee to open the new campaign as part of a home-and-home that will see the Seminoles visit Tuscaloosa in 2026.
Alabama opens as a comfortable favorite against FSU even with many question marks to be answered throughout the offseason. The Crimson Tide are coming off a disappointing 9-4 season in the first year of the Kalen DeBoer era, one in which they ended up missing the expanded 12-teamCollege Football Playoff field.
The biggest question mark will be at quarterback, where the team will have to replace two-year starter Jalen Milroe. Returning veterans Ty Simpson and Austin Mack will battle through the spring and summer for the job, as well as highly touted freshman Keelon Russell, who holds the distinction of being the highest-ranked prospect in program history.
Whoever ends up starting at Doak Campbell Stadium against the Noles will have weapons like Freshman All-American Ryan Williams to work with, and will be under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Grubb and DeBoer’s offense at Washington was electric in 2023 and Tide fans are hoping the Florida State game will be the first glimpse of what could be an explosive attack this fall.
Alabama being a comfortable favorite this early is also a function of the state of FSU heading into the 2025 offseason. The Seminoles are coming off an absolutely miserable 2-10 campaign last season, posting the program’s worst mark since the pre-Bobby Bowden years.
The Noles have also made big staff changes this offseason, including hiring former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn as their new offensive coordinator. And after the the disaster of the DJ Uiagalelei experiment in 2024, they have reached back into the transfer portal to bring in former Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos to lead the offense.
