Alabama has one of college football’s toughest schedule stretches in 2026

The 2026 college football season is 93 days away. The Alabama Crimson Tide may not open with a vaunted Murderers’ Row of opponents — East Carolina, Kentucky, Florida State — in September, but they’ll face one of the toughest stretches for any team in the nation later in the season.

In what’s become an almost annual matchup, Alabama will take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Oct. 10. The third straight regular-season matchup between the SEC’s premier programs is at Bryant-Denny Stadium this year. A week later, Alabama visits Neyland Stadium for its annual Third Saturday in October clash with the Tennessee Volunteers.

Texas A&M visits Bryant-Denny Stadium on Oct. 24. The Tide and Aggies will meet for the first time since the two were divisional foes from 2012-2023.

While Alabama and LSU both receive customary byes a week before the first Saturday in November again, the Crimson Tide will visit the Tigers for another Saturday night showdown on Nov. 7 in Baton Rouge.

The three-week stretch of games against Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M in particular ranks as one of the toughest in the nation, something CBS Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford recently spoke to.

“It’s a season-defining quartet of matchups for Kalen DeBoer’s squad in the SEC as he hopes to silence the critics during his third campaign.”

Crawford has those four games at No. 7 on his list of the toughest schedule stretches in college football for the 2026 season. Alabama’s overall schedule was recently ranked the nation’s 10th toughest by CBS Sports.

Three SEC teams have an even more grueling stretch of games, CBS believes.

LSU, which faces the Texas Longhorns a week after Alabama before visiting Tennessee, is one such team. That stretch was ranked the toughest for any SEC team in 2026.

Alabama football schedule 2026

• Sept. 5: vs. East Carolina, 11 a.m., ABC
• Sept. 12: at Kentucky, 2:30 p.m., ABC
• Sept. 19: vs. Florida State, 2:30 p.m., ABC
• Sept. 26: vs. South Carolina
• Oct. 3: at Mississippi State
• Oct. 10: vs. Georgia
• Oct. 17: at Tennessee
• Oct. 24: vs. Texas A&M
• Nov. 7: at LSU
• Nov. 14: at Vanderbilt
• Nov. 21: vs. Chattanooga
• Nov. 28: vs. Auburn

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