Nonconformist’ Alabama embraces dark horse job as ‘group that shouldn’t be here’ in Rose Bowl

Alabama in the Rose Bowl is an underdog against a team other than Georgia for the first time since 2009.

For the first time in 14 years, Alabama is an underdog against a team that is not Georgia.

The Tide remains a 1.5-point underdog to Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and if that sticks by kickoff at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday, it will mark the first time since 2009 that Alabama has not been favored against a team other than the Bulldogs. It last happened in the 2009 SEC championship game, when Alabama beat Florida by 19 points after being 4.5-point underdogs.

Alabama’s last four games as underdogs have all come against Georgia in this year’s SEC championship game, the national championship game following the 2021 season, the 2021 SEC championship game and a regular-season game in 2015.

Barring a last-minute change in the betting line on Caesars sportsbook, this will be Alabama’s first time as underdogs in consecutive games since Nick Saban’s first season in 2007.

“To just be the underdog — we love it here,” guard Tyler Booker said Thursday. “Because we love proving people wrong. People wrote us off Week 3 against USF, and we’ve grown so much since that game. We’re very excited to show the nation who we are.”

To a large extent, the Tide has already done that. Beating top-ranked Georgia four weeks ago extinguished much of the remaining doubt about Alabama that lingered after a September loss to Texas and afternoon of struggles at South Florida. The morning after that game, Alabama had +5000 odds to win the national championship. Now Alabama sits at +215, a hair longer than Michigan at +205 as favorites win the title.

Even so, Alabama is gathering up whatever scraps of doubt are left about them.