Gophers set future games with football powerhouse Alabama
The Gophers and Alabama will meet in 2032 and 2033.
It's a decade away, but two-year series is locked into the schedule on Sept. 18, 2032 and Sept. 17, 2033. The 2032 game is in Minnesota and the 2033 contest will be played at Alabama.
Minnesota is 1-0 all time against the Crimson Tide, with that meeting happening in the 2004 Music City Bowl, which the Gophers won 20-16.
Alabama was not the powerhouse then that they are now. Nick Saban was the coach at LSU back in 2004 and then spent two years in the NFL with the Dolphins before taking over at Alabama in 2007.
At 70 years old, it's highly unlikely Saban will be coaching when the Gophers come up on the schedule. It's also highly questionable if P.J. Fleck will be the head coach at Minnesota a decade from now.
Heck, maybe Fleck will be the coach at Alabama when these games take place.
It's not entirely out of the question that Minnesota and Alabama meet this year. It would likely require both teams reaching the College Football Playoff, which means the Gophers pretty much have to run the table the rest of the regular season and then win the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State.
Minnesota is 4-1 and has a big game at Illinois (5-1) on Saturday. If they win that, they'll have a chance to regain national respect when they play at No. 10 Penn State on Oct. 22.
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Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.