Why Heather Dinich isn’t buying Alabama football as CFP team in 2026

The Alabama football program is just one month away from kicking off the new college football season. The Crimson Tide are looking to bounce back after an ugly end to last year with a blowout loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl.

Opinions are mixed this season as to whether or not Alabama is a legit national title threat, and recently, ESPN college football insider Heather Dinich weighed in on the company’s analytics department giving the Crimson Tide the ninth-best odds to reach the expanded college football playoff.

“The computers give the Tide the ninth-best chance in the FBS to reach the CFP, which seems generous for a team that doesn’t know its starting quarterback yet and averaged 3.3 yards per carry last year,” wrote Dinich.

Last year, Alabama got off to an ugly start with a brutal loss against Florida State before quickly turning things around and looking like one of the best teams in the country throughout most of the season. However, things started to cool off down the stretch of the campaign, culminating in a lopsided SEC Championship Game loss to Georgia, and although Alabama got by Oklahoma in the first round of the playoffs, things ended quickly against Indiana in the following game.

This year, Alabama will return some of its core from a season ago, and will be looking for star wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams to bounce back after taking a major step back in 2025. Head coach Kalen DeBoer will certainly be feeling the pressure if his team stumbles out of the gates once again this season.

Alabama is set to kick off its new season on September 5 against East Carolina.

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