Alabama 2026 Football Schedule: Every Game, Dates & TV
Alabama’s 2026 football schedule is official, and it puts the Crimson Tide through 12 regular-season games — seven at Bryant-Denny Stadium and five on the road — in the first season of the SEC’s new nine-game conference format. The slate opens Sept. 5 against East Carolina and closes Nov. 28 with the Iron Bowl against…
Alabama’s 2026 football schedule is official, and it puts the Crimson Tide through 12 regular-season games — seven at Bryant-Denny Stadium and five on the road — in the first season of the SEC’s new nine-game conference format. The slate opens Sept. 5 against East Carolina and closes Nov. 28 with the Iron Bowl against Auburn, with a mid-season run through Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas A&M standing out as the stretch most likely to shape how the year is remembered.
Quick Facts: Alabama 2026 Football Schedule
| Season Opener | vs. East Carolina — Sept. 5 (home) |
| Total Games | 12 (7 home, 5 away) |
| First SEC Game | at Kentucky — Sept. 12 |
| Marquee Home Game | vs. Georgia — Oct. 10 |
| Toughest Road Trip | at LSU — Nov. 7 |
| Season Finale (Iron Bowl) | vs. Auburn — Nov. 28 (home) |
| SEC Championship Game | Dec. 5 — Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta |
| New in 2026 | First year of 9-game SEC schedule |
Alabama’s Full 2026 Schedule
Here’s the complete 12-game slate, in order:
- Sept. 5 — East Carolina (home)
- Sept. 12 — at Kentucky
- Sept. 19 — Florida State (home)
- Sept. 26 — South Carolina (home)
- Oct. 3 — at Mississippi State
- Oct. 10 — Georgia (home)
- Oct. 17 — at Tennessee
- Oct. 24 — Texas A&M (home)
- Nov. 7 — at LSU
- Nov. 14 — at Vanderbilt
- Nov. 21 — Chattanooga (home)
- Nov. 28 — Auburn (home)
The SEC Championship Game follows on Dec. 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, should Alabama qualify.
2026 Schedule at a Glance
Alabama 2026 Football Schedule
Every Game, Date, Opponent, Kickoff Time & TV Network
Regular Season Games
Home Games
Away Games
Open Date
5
Saturday
East Carolina
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
ABC
12
Saturday
Kentucky
@ Lexington, Kentucky
ABC
19
Saturday
Florida State
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
ABC
26
Saturday
South Carolina
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TBA
3
Saturday
Mississippi State
@ Starkville, Mississippi
TBA
10
Saturday
Georgia
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TBA
17
Saturday
Tennessee
@ Knoxville, Tennessee
TBA
24
Saturday
Texas A&M
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TBA
Alabama Football Bye Week
7
Saturday
LSU
@ Baton Rouge, Louisiana
TBA
14
Saturday
Vanderbilt
@ Nashville, Tennessee
TBA
21
Saturday
Chattanooga
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SEC Network+
28
Saturday
Auburn
vs. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TBA
The Season Opener and Early Non-Conference Slate
Alabama opens the season at home against East Carolina on Sept. 5. It’s just the second-ever meeting between the two programs and the first ever played in Tuscaloosa — the only previous matchup was a 23-22 Alabama win at Legion Field in Birmingham back in 1998.
Two weeks later, on Sept. 19, Alabama hosts Florida State to close out a home-and-home series between the two blue-blood programs. The Crimson Tide is a perfect 2-0 at home against the Seminoles all-time, and the 2026 trip marks Florida State’s first visit to Tuscaloosa since 1974.
Why It Matters: The SEC’s new scheduling rules require member schools to play at least one game against a Power Four opponent from outside the conference (or Notre Dame). For Alabama, the Florida State rematch fills that requirement.
The SEC Road Begins in Lexington
Alabama’s first SEC game of 2026 sends the Crimson Tide on the road to Kentucky on Sept. 12 — the program’s first trip to Lexington since 2023, when Alabama won 49-21 at Kroger Field under Nick Saban. That 2023 game was also Saban’s second-to-last road win before his January 2024 retirement. Alabama carries a 39-2-1 all-time record against Kentucky, including a 16-2 mark in Lexington specifically.
The Crimson Tide will also travel to Mississippi State on Oct. 3, the first meeting between the two geographic rivals since 2023. It’s historically been one of the more lopsided series on Alabama’s schedule — Saban lost to Mississippi State only once in his tenure, back in 2007.
A New Nine-Game SEC Format
The 2026 season marks the first year the SEC has moved to a nine-game conference schedule across all 16 member schools, up from eight. Under the new format, each SEC team plays every other conference opponent at least once every two years and both home and away over a four-year cycle, built around a small set of annual rivalry games.
Big Picture: A tougher, nine-game conference slate means less margin for error across the season — there are fewer non-conference “breathers” to offset a bad week in SEC play, which raises the stakes on every October and November matchup, including the Georgia and Auburn games.
The Stretch That Could Define the Season
Between Sept. 19 and Oct. 24, Alabama plays six straight games without an open week: Florida State (home), South Carolina (home), at Mississippi State, Georgia (home), at Tennessee, and Texas A&M (home). Georgia’s visit to Tuscaloosa on Oct. 10, sandwiched between a road trip to Starkville and a road trip to Knoxville, sits right in the middle of that run.
Analysis: Georgia has been Alabama’s most consistent measuring-stick opponent in the SEC over the past several seasons, and this year that game arrives without a bye week on either side of it to recover or prepare. A one-loss or two-loss team can still reach the SEC Championship or the College Football Playoff, but stacking a home game against Georgia between two SEC road trips is the kind of stretch that tends to separate playoff-caliber teams from the rest of the conference. How Alabama comes out of that six-game run — not any single game in isolation — is likely to say the most about where the season is headed.
Projection: If Alabama is going to control its own path back to Atlanta, surviving this stretch at 5-1 or better would put the Crimson Tide in strong position; dropping two or more games in this window would make the closing stretch against LSU, Vanderbilt and Auburn far less forgiving.
The Iron Bowl Closes It Out
After a two-game trip through Baton Rouge (Nov. 7) and Nashville (Nov. 14), Alabama returns home to face Chattanooga on Nov. 21 before closing the regular season against Auburn on Nov. 28 in the annual Iron Bowl. As always, the rivalry game caps the regular season and carries its usual weight regardless of either team’s record entering it.
Conclusion
Alabama’s 2026 schedule is front-loaded with variety — a new opponent in East Carolina, a historic FSU rematch, and a return trip to Lexington — before settling into the meat of SEC play. But the six-game gauntlet from Florida State through Texas A&M, with Georgia sitting at its center, is the part of the calendar most likely to determine whether the Crimson Tide are playing for an SEC title in Atlanta or simply playing out the string by the time the Iron Bowl arrives.
Related reading: Alabama Football Roster 2026 · Alabama Coaching Staff · Alabama Spring Game 2026 · Bryant-Denny Stadium · Alabama Recruiting Class 2026 (Link each of these to the matching page on your own site once published — placeholders only, not live URLs.)
Official sources: Alabama Athletics — 2026 Football Schedule · Southeastern Conference — 2026 Alabama Schedule
FAQs
When does Alabama play its first game of the 2026 season?
Alabama opens the 2026 season at home against East Carolina on Sept. 5.
How many games are on Alabama’s 2026 schedule?
Alabama plays a 12-game regular-season schedule in 2026: seven home games and five road games.
When is the Iron Bowl in 2026?
Alabama closes its 2026 regular season against Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 28 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Is 2026 the first year of a nine-game SEC schedule?
Yes. The SEC moved to a nine-game conference schedule for all member schools starting in 2026, up from eight.
When does Alabama play Georgia in 2026?
Alabama hosts Georgia on Oct. 10, 2026, in Tuscaloosa.
Where is the 2026 SEC Championship Game?
The 2026 SEC Championship Game is scheduled for Dec. 5 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Who does Alabama play on the road in 2026? Alabama’s road opponents in 2026 are Kentucky (Sept. 12), Mississippi State (Oct. 3), Tennessee (Oct. 17), LSU (Nov. 7) and Vanderbilt (Nov. 14).
Does Alabama play Florida State in 2026?
Yes. Alabama hosts Florida State on Sept. 19, 2026, closing out a home-and-home series. It’s Florida State’s first trip to Tuscaloosa since 1974.
Clint Lamb is an Alabama football analyst and college football writer with more than a decade of experience covering the
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