The Alabama Crimson Tide has faced Ohio State just five times in its history. Notwithstanding, Kalen DeBoer and the program are willing to do everything to ensure they keep their two-game series intact. And that has required the program to sacrifice its two-game series with a Big 12 team.

The Crimson Tide has canceled its two-game series with the Oklahoma State Cowboys in 2028 and 2029. But their upcoming games against Ohio State in 2027-2028 will go on, per On3.

Alabama was set to travel to Stillwater in 2028, while the Cowboys would have traveled to Tuscaloosa to play the other leg of the two-game series. However, the SEC had a recent schedule change that has now affected the fixtures. The conference is moving to a nine-game schedule as of the 2026 season, meaning all its member programs will now play nine conference games instead of the previous eight.

Aligning with the previous conference schedule of eight games, Alabama had fixed four non-conference games for the 2028 season: Georgia State, Ohio State, UT Martin, and Oklahoma State. For the 2029 season, Alabama had a non-conference game against Notre Dame, which led them to drop the Cowboys entirely. The Cowboys have also been able to replace the Crimson Tide in those seasons with a two-game series with the Michigan State Spartans.

Alabama and the Buckeyes do not have a particularly storied rivalry. The pair first met in 1978 in the Sugar Bowl, with the Tide winning 35-6. Paul Bryant was the head coach of Alabama at the time, while Woody Hayes was in charge of the Buckeyes. It took another eight years for the two programs to meet again, as Alabama extended its record to 2-0 with a 2-0 win.

Their next meeting was at the Citrus Bowl in 1995, with Alabama winning 24-17 for the third time in as many meetings. Ohio State pulled one back on its way to the national title in 2015, beating Alabama 42-35 in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Their last meeting was in the College Football Playoff National Championship, where Alabama defeated the Buckeyes 52-24 to become national champions in January 2021. A fun fact about their five fixtures is that none of them have been played at the home stadiums of either team.

The two-game series between Alabama and the Buckeyes will open in Columbus before Ohio State returns to Tuscaloosa in 2028 for the second leg.

College football world reacts to Alabama and Ohio State two-game series

Kalen DeBoer and Alabama have been frequenting many headlines since the head coach extended his contract. And the two-game series with Ohio State has brought them back to the center of many discussions. Several college analysts and experts have shared their opinions on the first home-and-home meeting between the two programs.

On3’s Blake Byler said, “Naturally, Alabama was never going to keep multiple non-conference home-and-homes in the same year with the SEC moving to nine games. But the fact that they’re keeping the big matchup is good for the sport.”

Stephen Means of the “BuckeyeTalkPod” remarked. “Ohio State is about to get well acquainted with Big Noon Kickoff this year.” Means also wrote in another post, “Good for college football that the Ohio State and Alabama home-and-home will actually happen. Bad for college football what this might also be signifying in terms of CFP expansion.”

There were doubts about such matchups, given that a loss in a non-conference game can hurt a program’s chances of making the playoffs. For similar reasons, USC will not play Notre Dame next season. In the 2025 season, Texas’ loss to Ohio State in Week 1 didn’t ultimately help Steve Sarkisian’s team. In that context, powerhouse programs still willing to play non-conference games against each other is good for college football.