The Alabama Crimson Tide open with one of the most-anticipated games of the 2016 college football season when they take on the USC Trojans at AT&T Stadium on Saturday Sep. 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The first full week of the season, however, kicks off two days earlier, on a Thursday night featuring 16 FBS games. That Thursday night is now just 29 days away.
The number 29 is significant to Alabama fans because they started attending games at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 1929. The home of the Crimson Tide seated approximately 12,000 fans for its first game, a 55-0 win over Mississippi College, on Sept. 28, 1929. Since then, it's been expanded seven times and currently has an official capacity of 101,821. It is one of seven stadiums in the FBS with a capacity of at least 100,000.
In addition to more seats, the stadium has added 157 luxury skyboxes, four large video scoreboards and concourse statues of coaches Paul "Bear" Bryant and Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide return to Bryant-Denny Stadium when they host Western Kentucky in Week 2.
In case you missed the start of our countdown:
30 days: 30 years since Vinny Testaverde's Heisman Trophy season