The SEC is about to undergo some major changes. But there's one consistency football fans can always count on: Alabama being Alabama.
The 2023 season looked like it was going to be a down year for the Crimson Tide. Losing to Texas early and playing a close game against USF appeared to signal the beginning of the end for the Nick Saban dynasty. All Alabama did was win the rest of its games, beat Georgia in the SEC Championship and punch its ticket to the College Football Playoff for the eighth time.
The elimination of divisions and the additions of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC could make the road at least a bit more challenging for Alabama in the future, however. The Crimson Tide will face a more difficult schedule in 2024, with matchups against stout opponents like Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee and Missouri.
MORE: Sporting News college football All-America Team 2023
How will Alabama's schedule be shaping up in 2024? Here's what you need to know.
Alabama football schedule 2024
Alabama will face eight SEC teams and four non-conference teams in 2024. Wisconsin headlines the non-SEC opponents, which also include Western Kentucky, USF and Mercer.
With the elimination of divisions, the Crimson Tide will face five teams from what was the SEC East (Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt), two teams from the SEC West (Auburn and LSU) and one new SEC team (Oklahoma).
Check out Alabama's complete 2024 schedule below.
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) | TV channel |
| Aug. 31 | vs. Western Kentucky | TBD | TBD |
| Sept. 7 | vs. USF | TBD | TBD |
| Sept. 14 | at Wisconsin | TBD | TBD |
| Sept. 21 | Bye | ||
| Sept. 28 | vs. Georgia | 7:30 p.m. | ABC |
| Oct. 5 | at Vanderbilt | TBD | TBD |
| Oct. 12 | vs. South Carolina | TBD | TBD |
| Oct. 19 | at Tennessee | TBD | TBD |
| Oct. 26 | vs. Missouri | TBD | TBD |
| Nov. 2 | Bye | ||
| Nov. 9 | at LSU | TBD | TBD |
| Nov. 16 | vs. Mercer | TBD | TBD |
| Nov. 23 | at Oklahoma | TBD | TBD |
| Nov. 30 | vs. Auburn | TBD | TBD |
Alabama football 3 best SEC games for 2024
Alabama vs. Georgia (Sept. 28)
Alabama vs. Georgia has been the SEC championship for three of the past six years. The two have dominated the national championships in the College Football Playoff era. Yet they haven't played in the regular season since 2020, when No. 2 Alabama beat No. 3 Georgia 41-24, to date the only regular-season meeting between Saban and Kirby Smart.
Make no mistake: these two teams aren't going anywhere next year. They'll be among the top national championship contenders in 2024, and the winner of this game will have an inside track to a first-round bye in the new-look CFP. This game will join Ohio State-Michigan as one of the most-watched games of the regular season.
Alabama at Oklahoma (Nov. 23)
Brent Venables has turned the Sooners around, and even losing Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma should be coming into the SEC in 2024 ready to compete right away. Add in that this game is on the road and the week before a rivalry clash with Auburn, and this game will certainly be worth having eyes on.
For as prominent as Oklahoma has been in recent years, heading to the SEC will bring an added challenge. The Sooners have the recruits and the talent to hang with the conference, but facing Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri — not to mention the rivalry clash with Texas — will all be challenges. They'll be waiting for the biggest test until the second-to-last game of the year.
MORE: First look at Oklahoma's 2024 schedule
Alabama vs. Auburn (Nov. 30)
Auburn was in a down year in 2023 and still made the Iron Bowl a fascinating clash, requiring an improbable fourth-and-31 conversion for the Crimson Tide to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive. Hugh Freeze is still getting the Tigers turned around, but he has the 18th-ranked recruiting class in 2023 and 10th-ranked class in 2024 that all should take on prominent roles in the season to come.
Maybe LSU and Tennessee, road clashes against top SEC foes, or Missouri, a 2023 top-10 team, look like better opponents. But the Iron Bowl has a way of almost always producing a close game. The same cannot always be said for Alabama's other SEC opponents.
SEC football schedule format for 2024
The SEC schedule and overall format is going to change significantly in 2024. Teams will be playing eight SEC teams with at least one game against a power conference or other major independent team. The next year, the SEC might expand the conference schedule to nine games.
There are no divisions to the SEC anymore. Instead of an East vs. West face-off, the conference championship will be between the top two teams in the conference based on records and any necessary tiebreakers. Over the course of four years, all teams in the conference will have faced each other at least twice. The only exception will be some rivalry games, which will be protected under the new format (in other words, don't expect Alabama-Auburn to go anywhere).
