The Alabama Crimson Tide rarely lose in the regular season and almost never lose at home. But on Saturday night, they were overmatched against the Texas Longhorns in a 34-24 home loss. The loss was Alabama's first at home since November 2019. It also made a huge dent in Alabama's odds to win the national championship.
Entering Saturday's game, No. 3-ranked Alabama (+650) was tied with Michigan for the second-shortest odds at Caesars. After the loss? The Crimson Tide have fallen to +1400, tied with USC for fifth on the oddsboard.
The other side of that coin is the rise of the Longhorns. They were listed at +1200 at Caesars entering the Week 2 matchup with Alabama and are now +800 to win the championship.
While the loss may have been shocking to many college football fans (particularly those in Tuscaloosa), the signs that Texas could be competitive were there. Alabama got 61% of the bets in this game, according to Action Network's betting tools, but Texas received 59% of the money wagered on the spread. According to data from Bet Labs, Alaama was just 3-4 outright when favored by a touchdown or less at home prior to tonight's loss.
Alabama will look to get back on track in the national championship picture with a matchup against unranked USF next week, but also faces No. 20 Ole Miss (Sept. 23), No. 23 Texas A&M (Oct. 7), No. 8 Tennessee (Oct. 21) and No. 14 LSU (Nov. 4) this season.
