Updated Alabama football SEC Championship odds, CFP odds: Are Tide favored for big season?

The 2025 Alabama football season officially began this week with the first practices of fall camp. The regular season opener against Florida State on Aug. 30 is less than a month away.

The Crimson Tide are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season. In their first season under coach Kalen DeBoer, Alabama lost four games for the first time since 2007 and missed out on the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The latest CFP National Championship odds offer reason for optimism. The Crimson Tide are as high as 5th and no lower than 7th in the odds at the best online sportsbooks.

Are the Alabama football National Championship odds worth betting on? What about their SEC Championship odds or their odds to make the CFP?

Let’s look at the latest odds and discuss whether betting on Alabama is smart money. All odds provided below are current as of Aug. 1 and subject to change.

Alabama football odds to win the CFP National Championship

Here are the current betting odds for Alabama to win the CFP National Championship at five of the most popular online sportsbooks. For comparison, I have also included the odds for any teams that have either better or identical odds to the Crimson Tide.

There is a clear top tier of four teams in these CFP National Championship odds: Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, and Penn State. If history is any indication, one of those four teams is likely to win the championship.

Only one team in the last 10 years won the championship after starting the season with odds longer than +800. That was LSU in 2019, which entered the season with +2500 odds. Seven other teams since 2001 have won the title after entering the season with odds of +1000 or longer.

I don’t love Alabama’s chances of breaking that trend, mainly because of the uncertainty under center. Redshirt junior Ty Simpson is the favorite to win the job, but sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman and five-star recruit Keelon Russell are also in the mix.

Simpson has zero career starts and 50 pass attempts, while Mack has three career attempts. No matter who wins the job, the Crimson Tide will rely on an inexperienced signal caller to get up to speed quickly.

That’s not necessarily a dealbreaker in college football, and most of the other contenders like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State will also have new, relatively inexperienced quarterbacks taking the helm. However, Alabama has a much bigger question mark at the position than those schools.

Would it be shocking if DeBoer leads Alabama back to legitimate contention in his second season? Not really. He took Washington to the title game in his second season two years ago. But there are still too many questions to feel good about betting on Alabama at the current odds.

Alabama football odds to win the SEC Championship

Alabama is a clear third in the latest SEC Championship odds, behind Texas and Georgia.

There is a big dropoff in the odds after Alabama. The only other school with odds better than +1000 is LSU, which is priced between +650 at Caesars and +750 at BetMGM.

If I’m making an Alabama futures bet, this is the market I’m focused on. It would only take one of Texas or Georgia to falter and create an opening for the Crimson Tide to make it to the SEC Championship game. If that happens, it’s certainly possible they could win it.

At nearly 5-to-1 odds at BetMGM, there is solid value on this bet.

Alabama football odds to make the College Football Playoff

Six teams have better odds than Alabama to make the CFP: Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, and Clemson. Here are the latest odds for the Crimson Tide:

It’s hard to imagine Alabama missing the CFP for the second straight year, which is reflected in the odds. Then again, it was also mildly surprising that Alabama was left out last year, when the SEC only had three teams represented.

If you wanted to fade the Crimson Tide this season, this could be a decent bet. The Tide’s over/under is set at 9.5 regular-season wins, with +105 odds on the under at DraftKings. Last year, they finished 9-3 and missed the CFP.

Clemson was the only three-loss team to make the CFP last year by winning the ACC. If Alabama finishes 9-3 again, they could once again miss out on the 12-team field. You get better value by taking the +155 odds at DraftKings than just taking the under on 9.5 wins.