Roll Tide. If you say those two words to anyone in Tuscaloosa, you’re usually met with a nod of approval or a 30-minute breakdown of the depth chart. But 2017? That year was something else entirely. Looking back at the football schedule for Alabama 2017, it wasn’t just a list of dates and opponents. It was a brutal, grueling gauntlet that nearly broke Nick Saban’s dynasty before cementing it in the most dramatic way possible.
People forget how vulnerable Alabama looked at times. Seriously.
The season kicked off with a massive showdown in Atlanta against Florida State. At the time, it was billed as the "Greatest Opener of All Time." Both teams were ranked in the top three. Alabama flexed. They won 24-7, but the cost was high. They lost linebackers Terrell Lewis and Christian Miller to serious injuries in that single game. It set a tone for a season where the roster often felt like it was held together by athletic tape and sheer willpower.
The Early Season Grind and the SEC Slate
After the FSU win, the football schedule for Alabama 2017 moved into what many fans call the "tune-up" phase, though Nick Saban would probably scream at you for using that term. Fresno State and Colorado State came to Bryant-Denny. They left with losses, obviously. Jalen Hurts was the guy back then. He was dynamic, sure, but the passing game often felt... limited. You could feel the tension building among the fanbase even while the Tide was winning by thirty points.
Then came the SEC opener against Vanderbilt. 59-0. Total demolition.
It’s easy to look at a 13-1 record and think it was a breeze, but the middle of that schedule was a minefield. They traveled to College Station to play Texas A&M. That game was ugly. Alabama won 27-19, but they looked sluggish. The defense was getting banged up. Every week, a new name appeared on the injury report. Minkah Fitzpatrick was playing like a god, flying all over the field, but you could tell the heavy lifting was taking a toll.
October saw wins over Arkansas and Tennessee. The "Third Saturday in October" wasn't much of a fight that year; Bama won 45-7. But the real season—the part that keeps Bama fans up at night—started in November.
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That Brutal November Stretch
If you want to understand the football schedule for Alabama 2017, you have to look at the LSU game. It’s always a physical bloodbath. 24-10 Bama. But the injuries kept mounting. By the time they headed to Starkville to play Mississippi State, the linebacker corps was essentially a group of guys who had been on the bench two months prior.
State almost had them. Honestly.
With less than a minute left, Jalen Hurts found DeVonta Smith—remember that name—for a 26-point game-winning touchdown. It was a narrow escape. 11-0. But the collision course with Auburn was looming.
The Iron Bowl. November 25, 2017.
Auburn was hot. Jarrett Stidham was dealing. Alabama went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and looked human. They couldn't convert on third down. The defense finally cracked under the pressure of all those missing starters. Auburn won 26-14. Alabama didn't just lose a game; they lost the SEC West. They didn't even go to the SEC Championship game. For most programs, that's the end of the road. For Alabama, it was just the beginning of one of the most controversial playoff entries in history.
The Playoff Debate: Ohio State vs. Alabama
You probably remember the shouting matches on ESPN. Ohio State had won the Big Ten. Alabama was sitting at home on the couch during conference championship weekend. But the Selection Committee looked at the football schedule for Alabama 2017 and decided that Bama's body of work—including that opening win against a (then) healthy FSU—was better than a Buckeyes team that had been blown out by Iowa.
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People were furious.
"They didn't even win their division!" was the rallying cry. But Nick Saban didn't care. He had a month to get his team healthy. A month to let Tua Tagovailoa, the true freshman backup, get more reps. A month to fix a defense that had been gashed by Auburn’s screen passes and RPOs.
The Sugar Bowl Revenge
The rematch with Clemson in the Sugar Bowl was personal. The year before, Deshaun Watson had ripped Bama’s heart out in the final seconds. This time, Kelly Bryant was under center for the Tigers. Alabama’s defense played like they were possessed.
They held Clemson to 188 total yards.
Da'Ron Payne, a 300-pound defensive tackle, intercepted a pass and then caught a touchdown on the ensuing drive. It was peak Alabama football. They won 24-6. The "Alabama doesn't belong here" talk died out pretty quickly after that. But the biggest hurdle was still waiting in Atlanta: Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.
2nd and 26: The Moment That Defined the 2017 Schedule
The National Championship game was a nightmare for the first two quarters. Georgia was up 13-0. Jalen Hurts couldn't get the offense moving. The football schedule for Alabama 2017 was about to end with a whimper.
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Then, Saban did the unthinkable. He benched his starter—a guy who was 25-2 as a starter—for a kid from Hawaii who hadn't played a meaningful snap all year.
Tua.
The second half was a blur of momentum shifts. Tua injected life into the stadium. He threw a touchdown to Calvin Ridley to tie it up. It went to overtime. Rodrigo Blankenship hit a field goal for Georgia. Then, Tua took a disastrous sack on Bama's first play of OT. Loss of 16 yards.
2nd and 26.
Everyone knows what happened next. Tua looked off the safety, fired a laser down the left sideline, and DeVonta Smith caught it in stride. Game over. National Champions.
Actionable Takeaways from the 2017 Season
If you’re researching this specific year for sports trivia, betting trends, or historical analysis, keep these nuances in mind:
- Injury Impact: Don't just look at the scores. Note that Alabama played much of the late season without their primary linebacker rotation. This explains the defensive lapse in the Iron Bowl.
- The FSU Factor: The win against Florida State was the "anchor" for their playoff resume. Even though FSU finished poorly (due to their own injuries), the committee valued the win at the time it happened.
- Quarterback Transition: 2017 marked the end of the "game manager" era at Alabama and the start of the high-flying passing era. The shift happened exactly at halftime of the final game.
- Strength of Schedule Matters: Bama proved that losing a late-season game to a top-10 rival is often better for your ranking than losing an early-season game to an unranked opponent.
To truly understand the 2017 campaign, you have to look past the trophy. It was a year of survival. It was a year where the committee valued "best" over "most deserving." If you're looking for more details on specific box scores, checking the official SEC archives or the NCAA's historical database will give you the play-by-play breakdowns that highlight just how close many of these games actually were.