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Alabama

Crimson Tide · SEC

Head coach Kalen DeBoer Year 2 with Alabama

Year-2 HCs (2015-2024) averaged +0.09 W vs SP+ expected · n=47

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
6.9
Expected wins
7-5
Proj record
4 to 10
Win range (90%)
#25 (10–47)
Final rank (90%)
10%
Make playoff
4%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

10%

Baseline projection.

  • at Vanderbilt
    Away · Nov 14
  • vs Georgia
    Home · Oct 10
  • at Tennessee
    Away · Oct 17
  • vs Texas A&M
    Home · Oct 24
  • at LSU
    Away · Nov 7

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2025

64 PCI
  • Quarterback 67% (4/6 players)
  • Offensive line 74% (17/23 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 54% (20/37 players)
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 58% (19/33 players)
  • Secondary 70% (16/23 players)
  • Special teams 55% (6/11 players)

PCI weights returning production by position group (QB/OL heaviest). 70%+ is healthy continuity; 45-70% is a normal rebuild; below 45% is a meaningful turnover.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 37.1% 51th — average
  • Red-zone TD rate 18.5% 82th — strong
  • 4th-down aggression 45.8% 86th — strong
  • Late & close 4.3 yds/play 26th — below avg

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama came in at 1685 ELO—a program still operating at elite leverage. That's not a punishment. That's the cost of recruiting like the SEC's most aggressive buyer and then having to prove it matters. The model gives them 6.9 expected…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's rating held steady at 1685 ELO this week, a stasis that reflects neither the volatility of a program in flux nor the stability of one locked into a predictable trajectory. The model distributes the Crimson Tide across a range of…

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's 1685 ELO is 47 points below last season's peak. That's the difference between a playoff team and one watching from home. Saban built this program on never standing still. His successor inherited the blueprint but not the margin…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's rating holds steady at 1685 ELO, a posture that reflects neither momentum nor crisis—just the baseline expectation of a program operating at the tier it has occupied for most of the last two decades.

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's preseason ELO is 1685 — elite by any measure, top-five national. Zero games played. The model hasn't seen them execute anything yet. That gap between what they look like on paper and what they actually are is the entire season.…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's Elo rating remains flat at 1685 this week, a stasis that masks a season sitting at an inflection point. With no recent games to process, the model's expectation—6.96 wins across a full slate—reflects a team in the middle band of…

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's ELO rating flatlined at 1685 this week—no movement, no momentum. The model's 6.96 expected wins suggests a team treading water between mediocrity and competence. That's not a floor. That's a ceiling pretending to be stable.

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's rating held flat at 1685 ELO this week, a stasis that obscures the real story: the model sees a 35.8% probability the program finishes with eight or fewer wins, and a 17.8% chance of exactly seven. That's not a program in…

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's Elo sits at 1685—elite company on paper. But that number is almost entirely inherited from prior seasons. Zero new points this week means the team hasn't played yet. The model gives them a 68% shot at 7+ wins. That's not a…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's rating held flat this week at 1685 ELO, a stasis that reflects the preseason moment: no games played, no new information to process. The model's expected-wins distribution tells the fuller story.

  • divergence

    Why GIE has Alabama lower than the CFP Committee

    GIE ranks Alabama 11 spots lower than the CFP Committee at #20, reflecting meaningful concerns about recent performance that consensus rankings haven't fully captured. The 28-7 home loss to Georgia in Week 15 exposed significant…

  • divergence

    Why GIE has Alabama lower than the AP Poll

    GIE's #20 ranking for Alabama sits nine spots below the AP Poll's #11, a divergence rooted in how the model processes recent performance versus reputation. The 28-7 loss to Georgia in Week 15 carries substantial weight in GIE's…

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's 2026 season exists in a statistical dead zone: 6.96 expected wins, which means they're positioned to finish somewhere between "bowl-eligible disaster" and "minor bowl participant." The model gives them a 17.2% shot at 8 wins.…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's preseason rating sits at 1685 ELO, a figure that reflects neither dramatic improvement nor collapse from the prior year—just the baseline expectation for a program of its historical caliber entering an uncertain 2026 season. The…

  • Hot Take

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's 1685 ELO is real-estate-tier valuable, but the model gives them a 6.9-win median. That's not a floor. That's a ceiling masquerading as baseline. One injury, one scheme adjustment, one loss to a team they're supposed to beat—and…

  • Analysis

    Alabama holds 0 ELO points this week

    Alabama's rating held flat at 1685 ELO this week, a stasis that reflects the pre-season uncertainty baked into any projection system before meaningful data arrives. The model distributes the Crimson Tide across a wide range of outcomes:…

  • Recap

    Alabama: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Alabama sits at No. 20 in GIE's ratings after a 28–7 home loss to Georgia in Week 15—a decisive defeat that underscored the gap between the Crimson Tide and the SEC's elite. The 21-point margin represents a significant setback for a team…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.