Before Alabama gets to the business end of its schedule, the Crimson Tide get a Saturday tune-up against an SoCon team with real ambitions of its own.
Bush’s Picks
UTCALA
UTCALA
OverUnder
Best BetAlabama
Alabama is going to be an overwhelming favorite here regardless of where the quarterback competition lands by November, and there's no realistic path for an FCS team to walk into Tuscaloosa and pull the upset. The value question isn't who wins — it's how deep the market prices the Tide's moneyline, and there's little reason to look for value on the Mocs' side of the board.
Chattanooga
+Picked 5th in SoCon preseason poll, respectable standing
+Program has recent FCS-caliber talent and coaching stability
−Finished 5-7 (4-4 SoCon) in 2025, missed FCS playoffs
−Massive scholarship and depth gap vs an SEC roster
Alabama
+Reached SEC Championship Game, first CFP win since 2021
+Added new OL coach Klemm plus 5-star reinforcements
−Averaged just 3.4 yards per carry, 3rd-worst mark since 1970
−Unsettled QB competition between Mack and Russell
This one closes out a stretch of Alabama's home slate, and it lands as a classic buy game — an SEC power hosting an FCS opponent late in the year, with the Crimson Tide's real November tests bracketing it on the schedule. Chattanooga making the trip to Tuscaloosa isn't about the scoreboard for the Mocs so much as it is a chance to test themselves and cash a paycheck along the way.
Alabama enters Year 3 under Kalen DeBoer with real swagger after reaching the SEC Championship Game and picking up the program's first College Football Playoff win since 2021, but 2025 also ended with sour losses bookending the season — an opening loss to Florida State and defeats to Georgia and Indiana down the stretch. The offensive line was a sore spot too, with the Tide managing just 3.4 yards per carry, their third-worst mark since 1970, which is part of why DeBoer brought in Adrian Klemm to run that room and leaned on the portal for reinforcements up front.
Show fees
1:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
UTC Chattanooga
ALA Alabama
The quarterback picture is still very much in motion, with Austin Mack and Keelon Russell competing to take over after Ty Simpson's departure, and how that battle resolves will shape how Alabama looks by the time Chattanooga rolls into town. None of that instability figures to matter much against an FCS opponent, but it's the backdrop for where this Alabama team stands heading into the fall.
Chattanooga Mocs
Alabama Crimson Tide
Nov 13?@ Vanderbilt—
Nov 6?@ LSU—
Oct 16?@ Tennessee—
Oct 9?vs Georgia—
Oct 2?@ Mississippi State—
Sep 25?vs South Carolina—
Sep 19?vs Florida State—
Sep 12?@ Kentucky—
Sep 5?vs East Carolina—
Recent form.
Chattanooga, for its part, isn't walking into this game as an afterthought program. The Mocs were tabbed fifth in the SoCon preseason poll, a respectable slot in a conference that returns a loaded Mercer team and now features newcomer Tennessee Tech, and they're looking to build on a 5-7, 4-4 SoCon campaign in 2025 that fell short of the FCS postseason. Their focus all fall is going to be conference positioning — this Alabama date is a one-off gut check sandwiched inside a schedule that's otherwise all business against SoCon competition.
The gap in overall talent and depth between the two programs is enormous, and that's before accounting for Alabama's built-in scholarship and roster advantages. Games like this one are typically about how starters look in limited snaps and how deep a bench Alabama can turn to once the outcome is decided, more than they are a genuine measuring-stick matchup.
