West Virginia to Open 2014 Season Against Alabama
How does Dana Holgorsen’s offense meeting up with Nick Saban’s defense sound?
You can now put it on the calendar.
West Virginia and Alabama will meet to kick off the 2014 season in Atlanta as part of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game on August 30th. It will be the first ever meetings between the two schools on the football field.
“Alabama and West Virginia are consistently among the premier teams in the country and we’re thrilled to be able to host such a high profile game with representatives from the SEC and the Big 12,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “This will be an epic blockbuster-type game the nation will anticipate for a long, long time and will continue our tradition of showcasing two top-ranked teams to open the season on Saturday night.”
At times the SEC has taken heat for not playing tough nonconference opponents but Alabama – who has won two of the last three BCS national titles, certainly hasn’t shied away from playing one blockbuster game as part of its nonconference slate.
In addition to the Chick-fil-A game to open the 2014 season, the Crimson Tide will open the 2012 season against Michigan in Dallas and the 2013 season with Virginia Tech in Atlanta (also in the Chick-fil-A game). That’s in addition to playing Penn State each of the past two seasons and Virginia Tech and Clemson before that.
Not only do these types of games provide great national exposure, but also huge paydays for the schools involved. West Virginia, for example, is expected to net $3 million dollars for facing Alabama.
Alabama is 10-8-1 all time against teams from the Big 12 while West Virginia is 24-22-2 all time against teams from the SEC.
Alabama last played a team from the Big 12 in 2009 when it beat Texas for the BCS national championship. West Virginia played host to LSU in 2011 falling to the Tigers 47-21 marking it’s last opponent from the SEC.
