This week’s SEC football meetings included a lot of business. The announced settlements of the three antitrust cases transformed the landscape of college sports. The SEC’s transition to a nine-game conference schedule, which had previously been contentious, received little notice. The SEC will play an eight-game conference schedule in 2025. A year from now, the conference may decide to go to nine games, but no significant conversation will take place until the inaugural 12-team Playoff field is unveiled in December.
Nick Saban never got much support from fellow coaches on his recommendation that Power Five teams should play only Power Five teams. Once Texas and Oklahoma were added to the SEC, Saban somewhat backed off on his preference for the SEC to play a nine or ten-game SEC season. For current coaches, any disparity in strength of schedules (SOS) and how those disparities could affect Playoff selections is a real concern.
Saban and Greg Byrne decided a few years ago to toughen the Crimson Tide’s annual out-of-conference schedules. Beginning in the 2025 season, and continuing through the 2034 season, the Alabama Crimson Tide has two Power Four, out-of-conference opponents every season. A full list of those games is provided below.
2025 Alabama Football Out-of-Conference
- Aug. 30 – at Florida State; Sept. 6 – Louisiana- Monroe; Sept. 13 – Wisconsin Badgers; Nov. 22 – Eastern Illinois
- 2026 – at West Virginia; South Florida and Florida State in Bryant-Denny
- 2027 – West Virginia in Tuscaloosa and at Ohio State
- 2028 – Ohio State and Tennessee-Martin in Tuscaloosa and at Oklahoma State
- 2029 – at Notre Dame and Oklahoma State in Tuscaloosa
- 2030 – at Georgia Tech and Notre Dame at Bryant-Denny
- 2031 – Georgia Tech (home) and at Boston College
- 2032 – Arizona (home) and at Minnesota
- 2033 – at Arizona and Minnesota (home)
- 2024 – at Virginia Tech and Boston College (home)
Fbschedules.com provides information on upcoming timetables. It is unclear how many of the games have signed contracts.
