Greg McElroy assesses Alabama's most notable SEC games in 2024

With Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, the release of the 2024 SEC schedule had some extra juice to it when it was announced on Wednesday. The conference revealed the home and away matchups for every SEC team in the 2024 season and it did not disappoint, unveiling an array of intriguing and exciting games in the future.

Alabama has been at or near the top of the SEC totem pole now for years, and there’s no doubt that their 2024 schedule is one of the most appealing in the conference. College football analyst and former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy took a look at Alabama’s 2024 SEC schedule revealing which matchups he’s looking forward to the most.

“Let’s start with Alabama, notable games in 2024,” McElroy said. “You still have the Iron Bowl, naturally that game’s played in Tuscaloosa but they also have the Georgia Bulldogs coming to town. Bama, Georgia, regular season, Tuscaloosa, thank you SEC football schedule makers.”

On an annual basis, the Iron Bowl is one of the most highly anticipated rivalry games across the entire college football landscape to close out the regular season. The Crimson Tide have not lost to Auburn since the 2019 season, but this staple of the conference was definitely not going anywhere despite the SEC’s recent changes.

As far as college football goes though, it’s tough to beat a matchup of Alabama squaring off with Georgia. Either Georgia or Alabama has lifted the SEC title to end the season in eight of the last nine years, and in that same span the two squads have been crowned national champions a combine five times.

These teams have commonly met in postseason games lately, but have not squared off in the regular season since 2019 when Alabama came out on top 41-24, and it will definitely be interesting to see if the two teams meet again in a conference championship or playoff game ahead of their regular season showdown in 2024.

“At LSU as well and at Tennessee, two rivalry games that I’m really happy to see preserved at least in 2024. Those games matter, Bama LSU may be the biggest game in the SEC in the last 15 years when it comes to the ultimate supremacy. And then Bama Tennessee, a game that’s been played forever, you just can’t abandon it. I’m glad they didn’t, they protected that game,” McElroy said. “Another intriguing game, at Oklahoma naturally, newcomer in the SEC.”

Crimson Tide fans likely don’t love to see trips to the Tigers and Volunteers on their 2024 schedule, as road losses to those two teams last season represented Alabama’s only losses of the season. The margin of those loses combined was just four points total, representing two of the most thrilling games of the 2022 season that can hopefully be just as exciting in 2024.

Alabama last faced off against Oklahoma in the 2018 College Football Playoff semifinal where the Crimson Tide won 45-34, but the two teams will likely get a lot more familiar with one another as Oklahoma joins the conference.