Alabama adds 2028 football opponent that could replace marquee Ohio State matchup

Alabama has made an addition to its 2028 football schedule, the University announced on Monday morning.

Alabama will open the 2028 season against Georgia State on September 2nd in Tuscaloosa.

The bigger story, however, is that it means Greg Byrne will now have to work to cancel one of the previously scheduled 2028 out-of-conference contests. Georgia State becomes the fourth out-of-conference game scheduled, and with a nine-game SEC slate, that gives the Crimson Tide one too many games in 2028.

Alabama has games scheduled vs. Ohio State (Sept. 9), UT-Martin (Sept. 16), and at Oklahoma State (Sept. 23).

One has to go. Most expect Alabama to cancel the Ohio State series in 2027 and 2028 with the move to a nine-game league schedule and no real incentive to play a game against the Buckeyes that can only really hurt you.

But that may be premature. There's reason to believe that the Alabama-Ohio State marquee OOC series stays, for now, and that another set of games is cancelled instead.

Alabama at Oklahoma State is more on the chopping block than Ohio State

Why does this potentially signal the end of the Oklahoma State series more than Ohio State? It's simply because of the number of home and away games currently scheduled.

In 2028, Alabama is set to play five SEC road games in its nine-game schedule: at Georgia, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. If the Crimson Tide cancels the Ohio State series and sticks with the road game at Oklahoma State, that will give Alabama just six home games for the 2028 season. Losing an entire home game, particularly one against the Buckeyes that will draw a significant crowd, is not revenue that would be wisely turned away.

Unless Byrne has something else in the works to get off of both the Ohio State/Oklahoma State games and adding another home game against a P4 opponent as a replacement, it doesn't make much sense.

And that's certainly possible. New SEC mandates by Greg Sankey require each team to play one P4 (or Notre Dame) game out of conference each season in addition to its nine-game league schedule.

So one of the OSU games is likely to stick in 2028. And the one against the Buckeyes makes more sense than the Pokes.