The home-and-home series between Alabama football and West Virginia has been canceled.
The Crimson Tide had been scheduled to visit Morgantown and play the Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium on Sept. 5, 2026, before WVU would repay the favor the following season by traveling to Tuscaloosa to play at Bryant–Denny Stadium on Sept. 4, 2027.
However, the programs officially called off the games today as a result of the SEC's recent agreement to begin playing nine conference games, instead of eight, next year. With the addition of another SEC game, Alabama apparently felt it necessary to cancel its meetings with WVU. According to a report by 247Sports' Mike Casazza, there is no buyout involved in the mutual dissolution of the home-and-home.
BREAKING: Sources tell @EerSportsDotCom that #WVU and Alabama have cancelled the 2026-27 series. There is no plan to reschedule the games.
We're told this is a mutual decision and no payments are involved with the agreement.
🔗 https://t.co/GMhI4jVuQx pic.twitter.com/wuhZcxVemw— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) August 26, 2025
In its announcement of the cancellation, Alabama announced it has added a 2026 home game vs. East Carolina.
“We are proud of the number of high-quality home-and-home non-conference games we have scheduled for the next 10 years,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said. “That being said, we know that college athletics has been evolving and changing rapidly over the last few years, and it made sense for us to make these adjustments on our future schedules. We have a bit more flexibility as we transition to a nine-game format in the Southeastern Conference, and it gives us the opportunity to further evaluate how strength of schedule is evaluated for the College Football Playoff. Between other home-and-home as well as conference games, we will continue to have a solid strength of schedule, which is good for our team, fans and college football.”
Alabama is canceling their West Virginia home-and-home (the RichRod series?) for 2026/27. pic.twitter.com/1920jhUUTF
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) August 26, 2025
Many athletic directors in the SEC voiced concerns that a ninth conference game could disadvantage the conference in its efforts to maximize the number of teams that qualify for the CFP, arguing that the competitive nature and high-quality football of the SEC open the proverbial door for the conference to effectively ‘cannibalize' itself. Despite this, other conferences, namely the Big Ten, were outspoken in their desire to see the SEC move from eight to nine conference games, which has long been the norm in many other leagues.
While the conference schedule is to be determined, Alabama will play all three of its non-conference games in 2026 at home: vs. East Carolina, USF, and Florida State.
This weekend, the Crimson Tide visits Florida State for its season opener. Alabama hosts UL-Monroe, Wisconsin, and FCS Eastern Illinois in their other non-conference games.
