Alabama and West Virginia will play a home-and-home football series in 2026 and 2027, the two programs announced Friday.
The Crimson Tide will travel to face the Mountaineers in Morgantown, West Virginia on Sept. 5, 2026. West Virginia makes the return trip to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 4, 2027.
“We are pleased to be able to add another premier, non-conference opponent to our future home-and-homes with West Virginia,” UA athletic director Greg Byrne said in the news release. “This series gives our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans the opportunity to play in and experience outstanding on-campus matchups to open the 2026 and 2027 seasons. As we continue to build out our future schedules, we will work to include even more home-and-homes of this caliber.”
This is the third home-and-home series Alabama has announced in the last calendar year. The Crimson Tide will play two games against Texas in 2022 and 2023, hosting the Longhorns in Tuscaloosa in 2023. They have also announced a home-and-home series with Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029, playing in Tuscaloosa in the second meeting.
This is the first nonconference game to be announced on the Crimson Tide’s schedule for either 2026 or 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 athletics director Shane Lyons said. “With their 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’s only prior meeting was at Atlanta in the 2014 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game. The Crimson Tide defeated the Mountaineers 33-23 to open up the 2014 season at the old Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
UA coach Nick Saban is originally from West Virginia, too. He grew up in Fairmont, which is 20 miles from WVU’s campus.
“We are excited to be able to add West Virginia University to our 2026 and 2027 non-conference schedules with a home-and-home series,” Saban said. “West Virginia is annually one of the best teams in the nation and we believe playing this kind of competition only makes our team better, while providing a lot of excitement for both fan bases.”
