Alabama announces home-and-home series with Oklahoma
Alabama continues to beef up its non-conference schedule by adding another traditional college football power to the program’s future schedule by announcing a home-and-home series with Oklahoma.
The first matchup between the two schools will take play at Oklahoma on Sept. 11, 2032, with the return trip occurring the following season on Sept. 10, 2033, at Alabama.
“We’ve worked diligently at adding high-caliber home-and-home series to our future football non-conference schedules, and we are excited to announce this one with Oklahoma for the 2032 and 2033 seasons,” Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne said via statement. “Alabama and Oklahoma are two of the most storied programs in college football history, and this certainly will give both teams and fan bases a tremendous opportunity during the regular season.”
Nick Saban also released a statement following the news:
“Alabama and Oklahoma are two of the most tradition-rich programs in college football history, and we are pleased to be able to add a home-and-home series with them to our schedule in 2032 and 2033. We played an exciting game with OU this past season in the Orange Bowl and matchups like this are so important to college football. It is not only great for the fans, but our team always enjoys challenges like these outside of SEC play.”
According to Alabama, the two programs have met six times with the Sooners currently holding the all-time edge in the series at 3-2-1. Of course, the Crimson Tide most recently beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 45-34 last season.
I wish they would only plan out maybe five to six years in advance. These will both be blue blood programs when they meet, but who knows if it would generate as much revenue as if they were to meet sooner(no pun intended). Heck, who knows of the AD will be the same at that point? I’m sure they have their reasons, but hearing about matchups over a decade from now doesn’t really get my blood flowing. And it makes less sense the more I think about it.
I never get excited about games scheduled so far out. A lot of times these games never happen due to changes within each program or the CFB landscape in general….
Can’t wait to watch this in 12-13 years. I’m so ecstatic!
Dabo vs. Coach Baker Mayfield. Should be a fun series. Manziel will go by “J Manziel” by then.
For sure one of the current head coaches will not be coaching in 2032.
Oklahoma will probably be a member of the SEC by then.
I hope no one bet on the SEC moving to 9 conference games anytime soon. If Bama and UGA are scheduling games like this, they won’t need it, and teams that are fighting for winning records don’t want it. We probably won’t see it until some form of conference expansion/realignment, if then.
These games won’t stop the conference from moving to 9 games just like schedules didn’t stop expansion. The games would just be canceled, moved or the rest of the OOC would be weak teams….
Of course these games won’t stop that; I didn’t say they would. But they will remove the motivation for a 9 game SEC schedule for most of the interested parties.
There already wasn’t anyone motivated to go to 9 games except for one or two programs.
One or two influential programs that we know of. Besides, I doubt that any AD is as set in their opinion as the fans – it might only take one playoff/season-determining schedule situation to shift how programs see the issue. Also, if the money leads them in that direction, they will follow.
The SEC, as a whole, hasn’t shown much interest in a 9 game conference schedule. I only recall Saban supporting it, so that really doesn’t have legs as of now. I would also hope we are done expanding for the foreseeable future.
I hope the SEC is done expanding too. And if a 9 game conference schedule ever happens, I hope it is done by way to cross-divisional games and not by adding teams to the SEC.
I agree the SEC doesn’t seem interested in 9 conference games, but it’s an idea that is discussed enough that I’d say it’s on the table. And the issue of permanent cross-division rivals is an at least loosely related scheduling issue that keeps it on the table.
I don’t see a need for expansion at the moment, but realignment could create an opportunity that’s too good to turn down or a risk that is too great to ignore, either of which could result in the SEC taking in more teams.
I would like to see the SEC realigned. At a minimum, I think, Missouri should go to the West and Auburn should go to the East.
CNS would still be younger than Bill Snyder.
This cr-p is ridiculous. Many of us will be dead by then.
On the flip side….many of us will be!
Will be alive lol.
On the subject of nine conference games, many teams in the conference need the FLEXIBILITY, (LSUABC), to actually get to a bowl game. For years, with having to only 10 games to play and actually having to win MORE than half, schools like Vanderbilt and Kentucky wasn’t going very often.
The eleven game schedule helped many schools due to the fact they had more FLEXIBILITY (LSUABC), and could pick up more ‘baby seals’.
Now with 12 games, only eight SEC games demanded, there is actually NO reason anyone can’t make a bowl.
Imagine only to have to win TWO conference games and the other four against the worst you can schedule to get to a bowl.
And with the ‘gift’ of playing a FBS game to count as a FCS game, how could you not think your favorite team is championship quality?
Give Vanderbilt credit for playing Notre Dame and other major universities and avoiding schools from Mid American Conference schools in an attempt to be considered a successful program. If you really want to impress people play TWO from the MAC as Kentucky does this year.
With all the worthless bowls, why not call these games what they are. PARTICIPATION GAMES’?
If you can’t win more than half of your CONFERENCE games, maybe its time to start basketball season.
Consider playing the nine game schedule and give the fans the opportunity to see another game with a conference opponent.
I bet the crowd would be larger than the one you have scheduled with Tennessee-Martin.
Pretty convenient that Coach Saban will not be the HC then and, maybe not even Coach Riley (even though OU’s most successful HCs had careers nearly 2 decades long). Coach Saban has showed 0 desire to sign such contracts with any team that could have any realistic shot at beating them at their house…especially at their house.
What’s it matter if it’s at Bama, away or a neutral site? If two good teams are playing in Dallas do they suddenly become bad?