ESPN names ‘archvillain’ for Alabama football in 2025
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Alabama will be trying to shake off a disappointing season (by its standards, of course) as it gets closer to opening the 2nd year of the Kalen DeBoer era.
The Tide went 4-0 to start 2024. Then came a road game at Vanderbilt, a 40-35 loss that ended the Tide’s stretch of 100 straight wins against unranked opponents. This year, though, revenge could be on the docket as the 2 teams meet in Tuscaloosa.
On Thursday, ESPN ran down the archvillain for every team ranked in its post-spring top 25. While Auburn would naturally be an easy option, Chris Low has identified the Commodores as Alabama’s archvillain in the upcoming season. Here’s what he said:
Now, all of a sudden, the Crimson Tide are 2-3 against their past five unranked foes … It was the first time Alabama had lost to Vanderbilt since 1984. Alabama will get its shot at payback this season on Oct. 4 when Vanderbilt visits Bryant-Denny Stadium. The loss to Vanderbilt a year ago ignited what was the first three-loss regular season for Alabama since 2010. Judging by some of the comments from Alabama players this offseason, nobody will need to remind the Tide when the Commodores are coming to town.
DeBoer will already be under enough pressure to get the Tide back to the College Football Playoff in 2025. Losing to the Commodores for a 2nd straight year won’t do much to appease fans that have held a low opinion of Nick Saban’s successor.
The Crimson Tide kick off on Aug. 30 at Florida State.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
