If you were looking for a smooth transition in Tuscaloosa, the 2024 season probably gave you whiplash. It was weird. Honestly, it was the kind of year where you’d see a score on Saturday night and think the ticker was malfunctioning. One week, the Tide looks like the best team in the country by a mile, and the next, they’re struggling to put away a team they should have beaten by thirty.
Kalen DeBoer had the impossible task of following a legend. You know the name. Saban. And while the final Alabama football scores 2024 tell a story of a 9-4 team that eventually found its way into a bowl game, the box scores don't reflect the sheer chaos of those four months.
The Rollercoaster: Breaking Down Alabama Football Scores 2024
The season kicked off with what felt like a standard Crimson Tide "tune-up." They dismantled Western Kentucky 63-0. It was clinical. It was boring. It was exactly what Bama fans expected. But then things got a bit... shaky.
By the time mid-September rolled around, the cracks started to show. Sure, they beat USF 42-16 and handled Wisconsin 42-10, but the flow wasn't quite there. The Wisconsin game in Madison was actually closer than the final score suggests until a late surge.
Then came the Georgia game.
September 28, 2024: Alabama 41, Georgia 34.
This was the peak. For a half, it looked like Bama was playing a different sport. They jumped out to a 28-0 lead. Bryant-Denny was vibrating. But then Georgia—being Georgia—stormed back. Jalen Milroe eventually had to pull a rabbit out of a hat with a 75-yard touchdown to Ryan Williams to seal it. At that moment, everyone thought the Tide was headed for a natty.
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We were wrong.
The Mid-Season Slump Nobody Saw Coming
The very next week, the unthinkable happened in Nashville. Vanderbilt, a team that had lost 23 straight games to Alabama, pulled off a 40-35 upset.
The scoreboard looked fake.
- Vanderbilt 40, Alabama 35 (Oct 5)
- Alabama 27, South Carolina 25 (Oct 12) - A near-disaster at home.
- Tennessee 24, Alabama 17 (Oct 19) - The Third Saturday in October went south.
Losing two out of three games in October is unheard of in Tuscaloosa. The South Carolina score was particularly troubling; the Tide needed a late interception just to survive a two-point win against a massive underdog. Basically, the defense was giving up explosive plays at a rate that made Saban’s retirement look like a genius move for his blood pressure.
The Late Surge and the Oklahoma Heartbreak
After the Tennessee loss, the Tide woke up. They blanked Missouri 34-0 and then went into Death Valley and absolutely embarrassed LSU 42-13. Milroe ran for four touchdowns that night. It felt like the "LSU Massacre" of years past.
But just when the playoff talk heated up again, Norman, Oklahoma happened.
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On November 23, the Tide traveled to face a 5-5 Oklahoma team. They left with a 24-3 loss. Three points. That’s it. It was the lowest scoring output for an Alabama team in years. The offensive line looked like they were standing in sand, and Milroe was under constant fire. That single score effectively ended their hopes of making the first 12-team College Football Playoff.
Final 2024 Results and Stats
Here is how the season actually shook out when you look at the raw numbers:
August/September
- vs Western Kentucky: W 63-0
- vs USF: W 42-16
- at Wisconsin: W 42-10
- vs Georgia: W 41-34
October
- at Vanderbilt: L 40-35
- vs South Carolina: W 27-25
- at Tennessee: L 24-17
- vs Missouri: W 34-0
November/December
- at LSU: W 42-13
- vs Mercer: W 52-7
- at Oklahoma: L 24-3
- vs Auburn (Iron Bowl): W 28-14
- vs Michigan (ReliaQuest Bowl): L 19-13
The ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan was a bitter pill. Finishing 9-4 just doesn't sit right in Alabama. The stats showed a team that averaged 34 points a game but gave up nearly 20—a massive jump from the defensive dominance fans were used to seeing.
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Why the Scores Didn't Always Match the Hype
A lot of the 2024 struggles came down to discipline. Penalties were a nightmare. In the Vanderbilt and Tennessee games, yellow silk was flying everywhere. You've got a quarterback in Jalen Milroe who is a human highlight reel—he threw for nearly 3,000 yards and ran for a bunch more—but the consistency just wasn't there.
Freshman sensation Ryan Williams was the silver lining. The kid is 17 years old and was Mossing SEC cornerbacks like they were in JV. He was the main reason the Georgia score stayed in the win column.
But the defense? LT Overton and Deontae Lawson played their hearts out, but the secondary got torched in Nashville and Knoxville. It's kinda wild to think about a Bama secondary getting picked apart by Vandy, but that's 2024 for you.
Actionable Takeaways for Bama Fans
Looking back at the Alabama football scores 2024, there are a few things to keep in mind for the future:
- Watch the Offensive Line: The Oklahoma game proved that if the Tide can't protect the QB, the score will stay in the single digits. Recruiting in the trenches is the #1 priority for 2025.
- The "DeBoer System" Needs Time: We saw flashes of a high-octane offense, but the turnovers (Milroe had 11 interceptions) suggest the learning curve is steeper than expected.
- Don't Panic on the Defense: The transition to a new defensive scheme under Kane Wommack had growing pains, but the Missouri shutout showed what the ceiling looks like.
The 2024 season was a bridge. It was loud, messy, and occasionally frustrating. But beating Georgia and winning the Iron Bowl still counts for a lot in the state of Alabama. To stay ahead of the curve, keep an eye on the spring portal window—that's where the 2025 scores will actually be decided.
Check the official SEC standings or the Alabama Athletics site for deep-dive player bios and updated 2025 schedules as they release. Tracking the turnover margin next season will be the biggest indicator of whether Bama returns to the playoff or stays in the middle of the pack.