Alabama announced two changes to its upcoming football schedules on Tuesday.

The Tide and USF mutually agreed to move their game scheduled in Tuscaloosa for September 12, 2026 to the 2032 season. The game is the final in a 2-for-1 series that began in Tampa in 2023 and included USF playing in Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2024.

The change announcement comes two days after USF coach Alex Golesh departed to become Auburn’s head coach.

Alabama will now play FCS opponent Chattanooga in 2026 at a date yet to be announced. Alabama did not yet have an FCS opponent scheduled for 2026, which would have been the first season since 2008 without one.

The 2026 season will be the first with the SEC’s nine-game schedule. In addition to Chattanooga, the Tide is also hosting Florida State on September 19 to complete a non-conference series that began this season in Tallahassee, and will host East Carolina on September 5 after Alabama cancelled its planned series with West Virginia.

Alabama on Tuesday also added Marshall to its 2027 schedule. The Thundering Herd becomes the second non-conference opponent in 2027, with Alabama having previously scheduled a road game at Ohio State.

Here is Alabama’s 2026 schedule, with the SEC yet to announce dates for the games:

• Sept. 5 vs. East Carolina (non-conference)
• Sept. 19 vs. Florida State (non-conference)
• vs. Chattanooga (non-conference)
• vs. Auburn (permanent annual opponent)
• vs. Georgia
• vs. Texas A&M
• vs. South Carolina
• at Tennessee (permanent annual opponent)
• at Mississippi State (permanent annual opponent)
• at LSU
• at Vanderbilt
• at Kentucky

The work never stops. The Early Signing Period (Dec. 3-5) is less than 24 hours away and the Alabama staff is continuing to work to put the finishing touches on what should end up being one of the top classes in the country for the 2026 cycle. 

An offer was extended to an in-state defender, who had an incredibly productive senior season, earlier this week. Here is what Bama247 has gathered. 

STICK OR FLIP? The latest on four Alabama commits, additional recruiting notes before the Early Signing Period

The Early Signing Period (Dec. 3-5) is just one day away. A lot of conversations are being held and final decisions being made across the country as recruits gear up to make things official with their respective schools.

Alabama fans saw four-star cornerback Zyan Gibson (Gadsden, AL) — who picked the Crimson Tide on Christmas Eve in 2024 — decommit and recommit within an hour late Sunday night. The longest tenured commit in the class has since confirmed the longtime plans to sign on Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. CT and Bama247 does not expect more dramatics when it comes to that recruitment.

CEREMONY PLANS: See exact signing times for Alabama commits during the Early Signing Period (Dec. 3-5)

STATE-BY-STATE BREAKDOWN: Kalen DeBoer, staff flexing recruiting muscles in the Southeast with incoming class

Are there other members of the currently ranked No. 3 class in the country, who fans should be keeping tabs on? Bama247 has regularly mentioned a pair of defensive linemen that are continued to be followed closely. An offensive commit is also being tracked. Here is the latest, as of Tuesday morning, with some ‘stick or flip’ thoughts. Plus, some additional recruiting notes.

It’s closing arguments week for the College Football Playoff.

Head coaches and athletic directors are playing the part of defense attorneys, making their cases for why their teams deserve a place in the 12-team field. Conferences join the lobbying efforts, too, with millions of dollars and prestige at stake.

The currently 12-member CFP selection committee met Tuesday and decided its final weekly rankings. The committee will meet again Saturday night and Sunday morning to decide upon the 12 teams that will be announced Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.

BYU

This week’s CFP ranking: No. 11

Remaining game: vs. Texas Tech in Big 12 championship

Record: 11-1

Wins against this week’s top 25: vs. No. 15 Utah, at No. 18 Arizona

Losses: at No. 4 Texas Tech

ESPN strength of record: 6th

ESPN strength of schedule: 35th

ESPN FPI: 15th

Sagarin ranking: 20th

What coach Kalani Sitake said: “The difficulty is that there’s teams that are gonna be playing in a championship game and others that aren’t. Maybe everyone should play a [13th] game. Maybe everybody should match-up and those that are — it would have been nice for us last year to play in a [13th] game, even though Iowa State and Arizona State were playing in the championship game. I don’t think we’re against that. I don’t have all the answers. I can’t really speak on the other teams, but there’s a lot of really good football teams out there in all the conferences.

“I do like the system that it is now, because it allows more to play in it rather than when it was a computer telling us the final two. We’re in a much better spot now, but maybe [the playoff] should expand more. I don’t know it it will ever get to what basketball is doing. There’s some really cool things that I think — all the smart people like all of you guys will figure it out. There’s like, play-in games and all that stuff in basketball. Let’s look at everybody who does tournaments and see what we can do.

“There’s great teams all over the place. … I can only speak for my team and what we can do. There’s a lot of teams that deserve to play in it. I think we’re one of them.”

TEXAS TECH

This week’s CFP ranking: No. 4

Remaining game: vs. BYU in Big 12 championship

Record: 11-1

Wins against this week’s top 25: at No. 15 Utah, vs. No. 11 BYU, at No. 21 Houston

Losses: at Arizona State

ESPN strength of record: 10th

ESPN strength of schedule: 59th

ESPN FPI: 5th

Sagarin ranking: 5th

What coach Joey McGuire said: “No matter what happens, I definitely think that BYU and Texas Tech should be in the playoffs. I mean, we’ve done what we’re supposed to do to do it. We need to finish it off, and I think Kalani has done the same thing.”

MIAMI

This week’s CFP ranking: No. 12

Remaining game: none

Record: 10-2

Wins against this week’s top 25: vs. No. 10 Notre Dame

Losses: vs. Louisville, at SMU

ESPN strength of record: 14th

ESPN strength of schedule: 44th

ESPN FPI: 7th

Sagarin ranking: 6th

What coach Mario Cristobal said: “At the end of the day, it’s not only do we pass the eye test, we pass the field test, especially as it relates to playing this brand of football down the stretch and in head-to-head competition versus others that are being judged in the same little pool that we are [in] as well. Plus, we’re getting healthy. No one ever talked about the value of that in the middle of the season, when we got banged up with six [or] seven starters going down, and now we’re almost all the way back. [The way] our quarterback is playing, it’s hard to compare anybody else in the country playing the kind the caliber football that he’s playing. Our defensive and offensive lines have been absolutely dominant, and they showed it from Game 1 all the way to Game Now, forcing opponents to have their worst graded performances against our fronts. I think all that stuff just speaks loudly. Again, it’s not only eye test, it’s a field test.”

On Miami vs. Notre Dame: “Our job is to make the committee’s job easier. When you play the same opponent and do a better job against them, that carries a ton of value. We did that. We had an opportunity to play head-to-head and all the numbers that go with it. The way that game was graded and the way the offensive and defensive lines performed against each other and the way key players performed with what they were able to accomplish or however many yards they were limited to, I think you have a really clear picture as to who is most deserving. You have the data of playing each other and then you have the same opponents and done a better job outside of one where the other team had a lacrosse player starting at quarterback where it got out of wack. This isn’t narratives. This is presenting the legitimate reasons why.”