re: Interesting facts about neutral site games, mostly Bama related.

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Alabama is reportedly negotiating a home-and-home football series with Notre Dame.

According to The Tuscaloosa News, the Notre Dame deal has not been finalized. And if it actually becomes a reality, the series would not likely take place until the late 2020s due to Notre Dame having several other contracted games on its schedules.

*** UPDATE: Alabama is also reportedly working on a home-and-home deal with Texas, per The Tuscaloosa News.

But the idea of Alabama taking part in a home-and-home series is one that’s sure to excite fans. The Crimson Tide last participated in a home-and-home series against a non-conference foe in 2010-11 in Penn State; hosting the Nittany Lions in 2010 and playing on the road in 2011.

UA has been more inclined to face out-of-conference opponents in neutral-site season openers because of the exposure and, of course, paychecks it receives. Alabama will open the upcoming 2018 season against Louisville in Orlando, Fla., while the 2019 and 2021 seasons will begin in Atlanta against Duke and Miami, respectively, in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Despite its recent success in neutral-site games, Nick Saban is open to home-and-home series. “I would like to do that,” Saban said on his radio show in September. “We played Penn State home-and-home when I was here, and it was a good game here, it was a good game there, great crowd and all that.

"It’s better for our fans if we play at home, I get that. But playing in these sort of games has helped us to play a better team, even though it’s at a neutral site, and it gained tremendous exposure for the program early on.

“But (UA athletic director) Greg Byrne and I met about doing this in the future where we have some home-and-homes with some teams every now and then so we’re not playing in one of these neutral-site games to start the season.”

According to The Tuscaloosa News, Alabama is also exploring a future home-and-home series with at least one more major college football power.

Notre Dame will face several SEC teams in the coming years, including Vanderbilt (2018), Georgia (2019), Arkansas (2020) and Texas A&M (2024-25), according to FBSchedules.com.

Alabama and Notre Dame have met on the field seven times in the past, and the Fighting Irish owns a 5-2 record over the Crimson Tide. Most recently, however, Alabama dominated Notre Dame in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game by a score of 42-14.

The Tide last faced Texas in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game.

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