Ohio State AD confirms ‘no indication’ home-and-home series vs. Alabama will be cancelled
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Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork confirmed on Tuesday that the high-profile, home-and-home series with fellow powerhouse Alabama is still on the Buckeyes’ schedule, and that he expects that it will be contested in 2027 and 2028 despite recent speculation that the Crimson Tide could cancel.
“No indication they want to get out of anything,” said Bjork, as reported by Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch.
The highly anticipated home-and-home collision of 2 of college football’s biggest name brands has been put in jeopardy by that recent speculation that Alabama would cancel the series because of the SEC‘s move to a 9-game conference schedule.
But Bjork shot that speculation down in his recent comments, believing that the Tide and Buckeyes are still on for their matchups in 2027 and 2028. Those 2 nonconference games between the SEC and Big Ten powers were scheduled back in 2020. Assuming the games are in fact played, they would be the first meetings between Alabama and Ohio State on their respective campuses, with 4 of their previous 5 games being College Football Playoff matchups or bowl games.
The only regular-season game between the programs was at the New Jersey Meadowlands in 1986, which was the now-defunct Kickoff Classic. That is all set to change come 2027 and 2028, assuming Bjork’s comments this week hold up and the home-and-home series goes on as scheduled.
Here are the top teams in the mix to qualify for the 2026 College Football Playoff. According to Kalshi, Ohio State has an 81% chance, with Alabama currently not in the top 10 but holding a 43% chance:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
