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USATSI

West Virginia and Alabama each announced a home-and-home series that will take place during the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The Mountaineers will host Alabama in Morgantown on Sept. 5, 2026, and the second game will be played in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 4, 2027.

"I would like to thank Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne for his help in putting together this SEC/Big 12 home-and-home matchup," West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons said. "With its great tradition and history, it will be exciting to host the Crimson Tide in Morgantown, and it will provide our fans with a great trip to visit Tuscaloosa the following season. Our non-conference football scheduling and the quality of opponents we are playing continue to be second to none."

Alabama and West Virginia last met in the 2014 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. That game, which Alabama won 33-23, is the only game the two schools have ever played against one another Of course, the big difference with that game was that it was played at the neutral site of Atlanta (and some will debate how neutral a site it is when Alabama or any SEC team is involved). These games, as part of a home-and-home series, will be on campus.

It's a nice change to see this in games involving Alabama. I've always been a fan of schools playing nonconference games like this on campus, and as I wrote about last year, Alabama and the SEC have rarely partaken in such events. During the College Football Playoff era, no conference has played fewer true road games in nonconference play than the SEC, and Alabama is the only school that hasn't played a single one. Now, with the addition of this home-and-home with West Virginia, Alabama has future nonconference road games scheduled at Texas in 2022, at West Virginia in 2026 and at Notre Dame in 2028.

Alabama coach Nick Saban was born and raised in West Virginia, and you have to think that played somewhat of a role in this series coming to fruition. Of course, one has to wonder if Saban will still be coaching Alabama by the time the first game is played.