Alabama and Ohio State have scheduled a home-and-home football series for 2027 and 2028, the schools announced Thursday.
The Buckeyes will host the first game in Columbus on Sept. 18, 2027, before traveling to Tuscaloosa the following season on Sept. 9, 2028.
It will be the first time they have met outside of a neutral-site game. The last time they faced each other was the 2015 Sugar Bowl, which Ohio State won 42-35.
The announcement continues a recent run of future home-and-home series for Alabama, which for much of its time under coach Nick Saban had scheduled its high-profile nonconference games at neutral sites.
In fact, 10 of Alabama's past 12 seasons have featured neutral-site games. The Crimson Tide will open the 2020 season against USC in Arlington, Texas, and next season will play Miami in Atlanta on Sept. 4, 2021.
Starting in 2022-23, things change with a home-and-home series with Texas. Other home-and-home series include Wisconsin (2024-25), Florida State (2025-26), West Virginia (2026-27), Notre Dame (2028-29), Georgia Tech (2030-31), Oklahoma (2032-33), Arizona (2032-33) and Virginia Tech (2034-35).
"The addition of Ohio State to our future non-conference schedule shows the commitment our program and administration has to creating the best possible games for our players and fans," Saban said in a statement. "I have coached a lot of years in the SEC and Big 10 and Bryant-Denny Stadium and Ohio Stadium are two of the very best environments in college football. Non-conference series like Alabama-Ohio State are so important to the health of college football, and we are very pleased that we could get this series completed."