Alabama AD Greg Byrne shares his thoughts on addition of Texas and Notre Dame series
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Alabama doesn’t have any intention of backing down from its stance on playing marquee non-conference opponents on an annual basis. However, instead of playing in neutral-site games, the program is interested in shifting back to more home-and-home series.
While the Crimson Tide do still have several one-off games scheduled to get through — in 2018 (Louisville in Orlando), in 2019 (Duke in Atlanta), in 2020 (USC in Arlington), and in 2021 (Miami in Atlanta) — the program hopes to shift back to home-and-home series with the addition of games against Texas (in 2022 and 2023) and Notre Dame (in 2028 and 2029).
Based on what AD Greg Byrne had to say about the games, the thought process behind the moves were made in part to appease the program’s loyal fans.
“That was a big get for our program, to have Texas come into Bryant-Denny Stadium in the future,” Byrne said in a YouTube video posted by CBS 42 during his recent appearance at the Region’s pro-am in Birmingham. “We are looking at, and I’ve said it publicly to coaches, we are looking for some home-and-homes. Now we have Texas locked up, we’ve got Notre Dame locked up and that’s a good thing for Alabama football. It’s a good thing for our community and our state and I think our fans will be really excited about those down the road.”
That’s not all Byrne had to say, according to the school’s AD, more marquee non-conference games could be on the way for Alabama.
“It makes sense. One thing Coach Saban — one of the many great things Coach Saban has done, he is focused on getting one non-conference game each year that’s really good for our program,” Byrne added. “We are just changing it a little and bringing them to our campus and going to their campus.
“When we pick up the phone and call, or somebody calls us, there is that interest. Everyone once and awhile doesn’t work out for various reasons — dates and all those different things, but both the Texas games and the Notre Dame games made a lot of sense for us and we are excited to have them in the future.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
