The ramifications of the Southeastern Conference’s decision to move to a nine-game conference schedule next season are already coming into play, as Alabama and West Virginia mutually agreed on Tuesday to cancel their home-and-home series for 2026 and 2027.
The Crimson Tide replaced the West Virginia contest with a home game against East Carolina.
“We are proud of the number of high-quality home-and-home nonconference games we have scheduled for the next 10 years,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement. “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 the 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.”
Alabama currently has eight nonconference home-and-homes scheduled across the next eight years, including one that starts with this Saturday’s matchup against Florida State. The Crimson Tide will visit Tallahassee next year.
West Virginia will replace the 2026 Alabama game with a home matchup against Coastal Carolina.
Last week, the College Football Playoff announced it was adding a new metric to account for strength of schedule in its decision process. The next day the SEC announced the new nine-game conference schedule, a move likely to boost the strength of schedule within the conference.
Other notable home-and-homes scheduled for Alabama are with Ohio State (2027 and ’28), Oklahoma State (2028 and ’29) and Notre Dame (2029 and ’30).
–Field Level Media
