Alabama, USC Rumored to Open 2016 Season in Arlington

By Kevin Kelley -

The Alabama Crimson Tide have made neutral-site season-opening games a staple on their football schedule. Now it looks like they have another one, and it could be one of their biggest yet.

According to Tony DiFrancisco, there is a rumor that Alabama may open the 2016 season against the USC Trojans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

https://twitter.com/TonyDiFrancisco/status/466599209647370240

Besides matching two historic programs and two conferences that don’t meet in a set bowl game, an Alabama-USC game could also offer another storyline — former USC head coach Lane Kiffin is now the offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide.

Speaking with reporters today, Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke about future neutral-site games for the Crimson Tide.

“Yeah, we’re always looking,” Saban said. “But not anything I can share with you right now. I don’t think we want to create speculation. We’re playing Wisconsin in Dallas the next year (2015), and we were supposed to play Penn State in 2016, they bailed out on us, so we’re looking for an opponent to play somewhere in 2016 right now.”

Alabama currently has no announced games for the 2016 season. USC is scheduled to open the season against New Mexico on Sept. 3, but the Trojans can move or cancel that contest.

Alabama is already scheduled to open the 2015 season in Arlington against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Crimson Tide open this season vs. West Virginia in the second Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.

If Alabama does play USC in 2016, it will be their seventh season-opening neutral-site game under Saban. Bama played Clemson in 2008, Virginia Tech in 2009 and 2013, and Michigan in 2012.

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Comments (10)

“Yeah, we’re always looking,” Saban said. “But not anything I can share with you right now. I don’t think we want to create speculation. We’re playing Wisconsin in Dallas the next year (2015), and we were supposed to play Penn State in 2016, they bailed out on us, so we’re looking for an opponent to play somewhere in 2016 right now.”

I completely respect Alabama, but didn’t they back out against Michigan State in 2016 and 2017 to begin with?

Would be awesome to see Bama-USC to kickoff the season! Pumped for the possibility…

Definitely wish this happens; looking at USC’s non-conference games over the next few years, it’s solely lacking in some marquee matchups. The UT games should be fun but other than that, it’s just Tennessee and BYU (I really wish that the . An Alabama game in Arlington would be a fantastic game.

So Penn St. was supposed to play Alabama in 2016? Where are the facts to back up that statement? I never heard anything of the kind. Oddly, Penn St.’s non-conference schedule is full for 2016. If it was true, obviously PSU bowed out due to the probation, though, Alabama did the same thing to PSU somewhere between 2006 and 2008 when they were struggling.

Sadly, seems like Penn St. is not interested in any quality non-conference opponents.

Are you serious? Who is more of an authority on the subject than the head coach?

Perfect timing for Bama to play SC since the Trojans will have inexperience at the QB and RB positions! Typical Bama! Go Bucks!

Alabama is searching for a QB to plus all their running backs keep going to the NFL. Basically Bama & USC will be in the same boat, not typical Bama at all, its called recruiting.

@Day is right. Both USC and Bama will have new QBs and RBs. Pumped for this match-up. Two of the top 5 programs slugging it out.