🏈 Schedule update: West Virginia out, Eastern Carolina added to schedule.

This is a bummer. I get it, and it was originally done for Saban to have a bit of a homecoming before he retired, but I was looking forward to it. So much so, I had been looking at hotels and such already. Was going to fly into Pittsburgh and drive down to the game. Oh well.

 

[RTB X Bot]

Alabama and West Virginia cancel home-and-home, ECU added

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the announcement of a nine-game Southeastern Conference football schedule beginning in 2026, Alabama is making adjustments to its preexisting nonconference matchups.

Alabama and West Virginia have mutually agreed to cancel their home-and-home series, which was set to begin in Morgantown, W.Va., in 2026, with West Virginia returning the trip to Tuscaloosa in 2027.

New to the Crimson Tide's future football slate is East Carolina, who will come to Tuscaloosa in 2026.

"We are proud of the number of high-quality home-and-home non-conference games we have scheduled for the next 10 years," said Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne. "That being said, we know that college athletics has been evolving and changing rapidly over the last few years, and it made sense for us to make these adjustments on our future schedules. We have a bit more flexibility as we transition to a nine-game format in the Southeastern Conference, and it gives us the opportunity to further evaluate how strength of schedule is evaluated for the College Football Playoff. Between other home-and-homes as well as conference games, we will continue to have a solid strength of schedule, which is good for our team, fans and college football."

 

[Nothing_But_A_Winner00]

Can't blame them. I imagine we'll see more of this.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Can't blame them. I imagine we'll see more of this.

Yep. They’ll dump the lesser of the power 4 opponents most likely and add more home games, which will also help with revenue some.

 

[MunchyOs]

Do we still get the home game with Florida State in T Town next year?

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Do we still get the home game with Florida State in T Town next year?

Yes.

 

[rick4bama]

So the nine game SEC schedule begin this time? If so why not drop a Whatever confer. WV is in game. Because any SEC team will be better that WV!

 

[TerryP]

WVU is hosting CCU now...take the 'Chants?

 

[Scrape&Search1032]

The cfp committee caused this.

 

[BamaFan334]

Well this sucks. I was looking forward to a road trip.

 

[OldPlayer]

If it was the SEC that caused this, why wouldn’t you replace WVU with an SEC team? Or, hold the date to be replaced by an SEC team. In the case of WVU, the press release says the two schools mutually agreed to cancel the game. In other words nobody pays a cancellation fee. Now Alabama and the SEC need to find an opponent who will reschedule their game so no money is owed or Alabama must pay up. The OOC games in 2026 are Florida State, East Carolina and South Florida.

 

[TerryP]

If it was the SEC that caused this, why wouldn’t you replace WVU with an SEC team? Or, hold the date to be replaced by an SEC team. In the case of WVU, the press release says the two schools mutually agreed to cancel the game. In other words nobody pays a cancellation fee. Now Alabama and the SEC need to find an opponent who will reschedule their game so no money is owed or Alabama must pay up. The OOC games in 2026 are Florida State, East Carolina and South Florida.

I don't get what you are saying here. Why would Alabama agree to play 10 SEC games in that scenario? Its schedule-ability would also force another SEC school to play 10: why would they?

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My guess: The next on the chopping block is Okie State. There's no reason to play them along with OSU and ND.

 

[OldPlayer]

I don't get what you are saying here. Why would Alabama agree to play 10 SEC games in that scenario? It's schedule-ability would also force another SEC school to play 10: why would they?

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My guess: The next on the chopping block is Okie State. There's no reason to play them along with OSU and ND.

My math isn’t mathing.

 

[TerryP]

My math isn’t mathing.

Thank God you're an editor!

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Shocking ....so now instead of some new p4 blood in our schedules........we get to recycle in the old bloods....of msu...vandy..ky..ark...USCe...power teams in the history of the SEC...

Dont see why 1 "take ur grankids to the game" games wasn't enough....
So...now we get 2...of 7 home games....28%...of them..
Guess its better than when we had 3 & 4....

 

[TerryP]

Shocking .

How?

I know it's been said, here, this was the coming dozens of times. I can tell you by whom!

 

[alabama mike]

Crap! I was planning on going to Morgantown to watch the game. The only game closer for me to drive to is UK and we do not play them very often.

 

[OldPlayer]

Thank God you're an editor!

I would have caught it after a few days. (I hope)

 

[TerryP]

I would have caught it after a few days. (I hope)

Just find something to blame it on.

 

[OldPlayer]

Just find something to blame it on.

Good idea. @TerryP made me do it.