Early Alabama odds: 2024 Point spreads released for Tide vs. Georgia, LSU

It’s a new era for Alabama football, with Nick Saban no longer steering the ship. Kalen DeBoer has been brought in from the West Coast, fresh off a national championship appearance with Washington. His goal is to keep the standard running in Tuscaloosa, hoping to continue the excellence Saban accomplished over the past 17 years.

Looking at the schedule, there are going to be a few critical games for DeBoer. Not just when discussing wins and losses but also while trying to fully win over the Alabama fan base. Two of them are going to be Georgia and LSU, which have provided some competitive matchups over the years.

Fan Duel has released point spreads for those two games and Alabama finds itself as the early underdog in both. If they were taking the field on Saturday, Georgia would march into Bryant-Denny Stadium as a field goal favorite, while LSU sits at -1.5 in Baton Rouge.

Alabama is rarely an underdog under Saban, let alone at home. You have to go back to the 2007 season — Saban’s first — to find the last occurrence. Both LSU and Tennessee were favored in Tuscaloosa but only the Tigers prevailed as winners.

Now in DeBoer’s first season, Georgia will come to town as the favorite. Kirby Smart was a career 1-5 against Saban, although the one win was an important one. But both head coaches expect to be the class of the SEC and with Sept. 28 being the conference opener, it’s not going to feel like a normal regular season game.

As for LSU, DeBoer will be walking into Death Valley for the first time in his career. A tough place to play, Alabama had a first-hand experience during the 2022 season with the overtime loss via Jayden Daniels and Mason Taylor.

Brian Kelly‘s team is now favored to win on Nov. 5, even as the Tigers go through their own transition. Homefield advantage surely plays a factor, with Tiger Stadium getting up for an Alabama game no matter the circumstances.

Alabama is far from a finished product from a roster standpoint. The NCAA transfer portal is still open for players, having a couple more weeks to leave the program. Once Saban announced his retirement, they had 30 days to enter.

DeBoer still has the opportunity to add talent as well. With all of the turnover, multiple additions are likely going to be needed.

But with the way things stand at the current moment, Alabama is viewed as an underdog in two of its biggest games of the season. Not by much though, having the opportunity to flip the line between now and the season.