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2007 Alabama

7–⁠6 (4–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Nick Saban. Officially 2–⁠6: the NCAA vacated five regular-season wins.

From the season’s Wikipedia article: “In 2009, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) levied sanctions against Alabama, forcing the Crimson Tide to vacate five wins, including three conference victories, from the season.”

Schedule and results

Alabama in 2007, game by game: won vs. Western Carolina 52–6; won at Vanderbilt 24–10; won vs. No. 16 Arkansas 41–38; lost vs. No. 22 Georgia 23–26; lost vs. Florida State 14–21; won vs. Houston 30–24; won at Ole Miss 27–24; won vs. No. 20 Tennessee 41–17; lost vs. No. 3 LSU 34–41; lost at Mississippi State 12–17; lost vs. UL Monroe 14–21; lost at No. 25 Auburn 10–17; won vs. Colorado 30–24+46−7Won 52–6 vs. Western Carolina+46Western CarolinaWon 24–10 at Vanderbilt+14VanderbiltWon 41–38 vs. No. 16 Arkansas+3No. 16 ArkansasLost 23–26 vs. No. 22 Georgia-3No. 22 GeorgiaLost 14–21 vs. Florida State-7Florida StateWon 30–24 vs. Houston+6HoustonWon 27–24 at Ole Miss+3Ole MissWon 41–17 vs. No. 20 Tennessee+24No. 20 TennesseeLost 34–41 vs. No. 3 LSU-7No. 3 LSULost 12–17 at Mississippi State-5Mississippi Sta…Lost 14–21 vs. UL Monroe-7UL MonroeLost 10–17 at No. 25 Auburn-7No. 25 AuburnWon 30–24 vs. Colorado+6Colorado
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 1vsWestern CarolinaW 52–⁠6vacated88%
Sep 8atVanderbiltW 24–⁠10vacated53%
Sep 15vs16ArkansasW 41–⁠38vacated51%
Sep 22vs22GeorgiaL 23–⁠2649%
Sep 29vsFlorida StateL 14–⁠2147%
Oct 6vsHoustonW 30–⁠24vacated56%
Oct 13atOle MissW 27–⁠24vacated62%
Oct 20vs20TennesseeW 41–⁠1745%
Nov 3vs3LSUL 34–⁠4136%
Nov 10atMississippi StateL 12–⁠1752%
Nov 17vsUL MonroeL 14–⁠2175%
Nov 24at25AuburnL 10–⁠1730%
Dec 30Bowls & playoffvsColoradoIndependence BowlW 30–⁠2453%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Colorado 30–⁠24 in the Independence Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 103rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 123 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 4: 16
  2. Wk 5: 22
  3. Wk 9: 22
  4. Wk 10: 17
  5. Wk 11: 21
Record
7–⁠6
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 6th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 16
Points
352–⁠286
Coach
Nick Saban
Elo
1533 +15 this season
SP+ rating
12.8 No. 31 of 120; offense No. 53, defense No. 21, special teams No. 62
SRS
6.9 No. 38 of 119 in FBS
Recruiting class
No. 12
Offensive coordinator
Major Applewhite
Defensive coordinator
Kevin Steele
Captains
Antoine Caldwell, Rashad Johnson and Darren Mustin
Offense
Pro-style
Defense
3–⁠4

How good, play by play

  • Offense77th of 119
  • Defense42nd of 119
EPA per playSuccessExplosivenessFBS rank
Offense0.0140%0.8777th of 119
Defense0.0240%0.9342nd of 119
How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season.

Drives and havoc

Points per trip inside the 40Average startHavoc
Offense-0.1own 322% allowed
Defense0.0own 303% caused

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.

Top recruits in the 2007 class

Kerry Murphy DT★★★★No. 51
Luther Davis SDE★★★★No. 110
Rolando McClain ILB★★★★No. 117
Brandon Gibson WR★★★★No. 156
William Vlachos OC★★★★No. 183

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2007 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Receivers33.00.851
Offensive line23.50.892
Defensive line33.70.917
Linebackers23.50.884
Whole class103.40.886

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

All-SEC

4 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 2007 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2007 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
LSU6–⁠212–⁠21
Georgia6–⁠211–⁠22
Tennessee6–⁠210–⁠412
Florida5–⁠39–⁠413
Auburn5–⁠39–⁠415
Arkansas4–⁠48–⁠5
Mississippi State4–⁠48–⁠5
Alabama4–⁠47–⁠6
Kentucky3–⁠58–⁠5
South Carolina3–⁠56–⁠6
Vanderbilt2–⁠65–⁠7
Ole Miss0–⁠83–⁠9

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.