The SEC is entering uncharted territory in 2024 as it will join the Big Ten as one of two 16-team superconferences in college football.
The question now is how the additions of Big 12 powers Texas and Oklahoma will upset the established order in the conference. That's especially true for Nick Saban and Alabama, who have taken a back seat in recent seasons to Georgia after long being the dominant force in the SEC.
More pointedly: What will Alabama's conference slate look like in 2024, the first year of the expanded College Football Playoff? The Longhorns and Sooners will certainly make for a more crowded race in the SEC, even as the playoff makes room for more entrants that season.
Alabama almost certainly won't play both Texas and Oklahoma in 2024, especially considering the Crimson Tide are finishing up a home-and-home with the Longhorns at home in 2023. The Sooners are likely the team they will face that season, replacing one of the Tide's previously established opponents.
MORE: SEC football schedule changes, explained
But what will Alabama's new conference slate look in 2024? Here's a breakdown of the Crimson Tide's first conference schedule in the expanded SEC, per reports ahead of the official announcement Wednesday:
Alabama football schedule 2024
Home
- Auburn
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Missouri
Alabama will maintain at least one of its longest-running series in 2024 when it takes on Auburn in Tuscaloosa. The game will be coach Hugh Freeze's first game at Bryant-Denny Stadium since he led Ole Miss to a 2015 upset of the Crimson Tide.
Alabama will take on Georgia at home for just the fifth regular-season meeting between the teams in the last 20 years. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs have combined to win five of the last eight national championships, including Georgia's triumph over Alabama in the 2022 College Football Playoff title game, where UGA coach Kirby Smart beat his mentor, Saban, for the first time.
Away
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Vanderbilt
The SEC wasn't going to get rid of Alabama's road trips to Tennessee and LSU. In 2022, the Vols beat the Crimson Tide for the first time since 2006 and the Tigers topped them for the first time since 2019.
Alabama's road slate also includes a trip to Norman to take on the Sooners. This will be the teams' first regular-season meeting since a home-and-home series in 2002-03. The Tide played at Oklahoma in 2002.
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SEC 2024 football schedule format
SEC schools failed to approve a nine-game schedule format for the 2024 season. Alabama was among those who opposed the change — even after Saban had lobbied for years to move to a nine-game schedule — because one of the team's proposed permanent opponents was LSU.
Because the vote failed to pass at the SEC spring meeting, the conference implemented a one-year scheduling format and resumed work on devising a permanent format beginning in 2025. The 2024 season will likely be the last season in SEC history with an eight-game conference slate.
Here is a breakdown of the SEC's 2024 scheduling format:
In the one-year schedule, SEC teams will play eight conference games plus one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or major independent during the 2024 season when the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas join the league.
In addition, the SEC will eliminate divisional standings beginning in 2024. The SEC championship game will feature the two top teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season. The single-standings format will allow every school to play every other school a minimum of two times in a four-year period, regardless of whether the SEC utilizes an eight-game or nine-game format for future conference competition.
Alabama will take on Wisconsin from the Big Ten on Sept. 14, 2024, a week after playing South Florida in Bryant-Denny Stadium.