Alabama’s schedule has a few odd little ghosts on it, and the Crimson Tide still haven’t exorcised them.
For a program that lives in the spotlight, it’s surprising how many familiar names have managed to beat Alabama at least once and never had to worry about a rematch turning the other way. With conference expansion squeezing the non-conference calendar and Alabama moving into a nine-game SEC schedule inside a 12-game regular season, athletic director Greg Byrne is constantly trying to make the math work. Bowl season and the playoffs help, but the reality is the schedule is tighter than ever.
Looking at the teams Alabama has already faced but never beaten, the list breaks into a few interesting buckets.
Among Power Four opponents, Winsipedia shows Alabama still without a win against Indiana, UCF, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Utah and Texas Tech. The Texas Tech result comes with a wrinkle: Alabama’s 2005 win over the Red Raiders was vacated.
The most recent entry on that list is fresh in everyone’s mind, with Alabama falling to Indiana in the Rose Bowl last season. It’s hard to believe the two teams had never met before that College Football Playoff game.
The other one-time matchups ended with Alabama losses to UCF in 2000, Minnesota in 2004, Oklahoma State in 2006 and Utah in 2008.
The Group of Six side of the ledger is even stranger. Alabama has never beaten Northern Illinois or Rice, despite having played both.
The Northern Illinois loss came in 2003, a reminder of how unusual the years between Gene Stallings and Nick Saban could get in Tuscaloosa. Rice has been a thorn in Alabama’s side for a long time, with the Owls beating the Crimson Tide in 1953, 1955 and 1956.
If Alabama ever wanted to clean up the Rice problem, it would not come cheap. The line there is blunt: Alabama would have to pay Rice a billion dollars to get them on campus in Tuscaloosa.
There is at least one matchup on the horizon that could change this list. Alabama and Minnesota agreed back in 2022 to a home-and-home in 2032 and 2033, with the Golden Gophers hosting the first game in Minneapolis and Alabama returning the favor in Tuscaloosa. That said, the games are far enough away that Greg Byrne and Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle could still backtrack on the agreement.
For now, Alabama’s best shot at knocking off several of these teams may come through the College Football Playoff path. Indiana and Texas Tech made it last year, Oklahoma State and Utah have won Power Five championships before, and UCF once ruled the Group of Five.
Minnesota is already on the schedule. Northern Illinois could even find its way into the playoff picture if it wins the Mountain West, or whatever league it plays in now.
Rice, though, is a different story. As the article puts it, the Owls are probably never going to win their conference.
So until Alabama hands over half the state’s GDP to a private school in Houston, that one stays stuck at 0-3.
In Other News...
CBS Ranking Reminds College Football Who Alabama Has Always Been
A fresh CBS Sports look at college footballs best teams by decade offered a familiar reminder of what Alabama has been for most of the sports modern history. Chip Patterson put the Tide at the top of the 1930s, 1960s and 2010s, with honorable mentions in the 1920s and 1970s, a nod to a program whose championship runs have stretched across eras and coaching regimes alike.
The piece leaned on the full sweep of Alabamas history, from Wallace Wade and Bear Bryant to Gene Stallings and Nick Saban, to show how rare it has been for the Tide to fall out of the national conversation for long. Even with Georgia currently viewed as the early favorite for team of the decade in the 2020s, Alabamas place in the sports hierarchy is still being measured against a century of standards few programs can match. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama May Be Losing A Lifelong Tide Fan To This Cycle Again
Alabama has spent this cycle trying to land Monshun Sales, a five-star wide receiver who grew up as a Crimson Tide fan and gave the staff a strong visit while the program made a competitive push. In a recruiting era shaped heavily by NIL, though, being the childhood favorite does not carry the same weight it once did, and that has made this one a tougher fight than Alabama might have expected.
Sales is expected to make a decision soon, and the buzz around his recruitment has only grown as the window closes. The Tide still have a case to make, but they are working against a landscape where other schools can sell more than tradition, which leaves Alabama hoping a lifelong connection is enough to keep one of its own from heading elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]