Rich Rodriguez: 'Alabama can beat our brains in for a couple million dollars'
Jacksonville State is in its second year as an FBS program with Rich Rodriguez leading the way. Sometimes, these schools rely on nonconference games for financial purposes, facing off against big-time foes. An in-state option for the Gamecocks could be the Alabama Crimson Tide, a matchup Rodriguez certainly was asked about during a press conference on Monday.
And based on his response, he is more than willing to bring his team to Bryant-Denny Stadium. In fact, Rodriguez will actively seek out getting the Crimson Tide on the schedule.
“If they want to pay me $2 million, I’ll be down there on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll play them twice and help our budget,” Rodriguez said. “They can beat our brains in for a couple million dollars, for sure.
“I’ll call my buddy Greg Byrne, the AD down there, and say ‘listen, Greg, we’ll go down there for $2 million, and if you want to do the back-to-back, we’ll go for $4 million and have a great time.’ I’ll even sing ‘Roll Tide’ for them, if they want.”
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Outside of the Iron Bowl with Auburn, there is not much history of Alabama facing teams from the Yellowhammer State. The Crimson Tide have historically scheduled out-of-state foes when looking for buy games. This season, it’s Western Kentucky — a game that resulted in a comfortable 63-0 win on Saturday night.
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Jacksonville State will face Louisville on Saturday, likely trading a loss for cash. Future opponents included UCF in 2025 and Auburn in 2026. Rodriguez is potentially looking to make the travel a whole lot easier for his team, going to Tuscaloosa while getting the program a few million dollars.
All of this without mentioning the history, or lack thereof, Rodriguez has with Alabama. He was the leading candidate to take over the job back in 2007 before turning the Crimson Tide at the last moment. This led to the hiring of Nick Saban, changing the history of college football forever.
Unfortunately, Alabama’s schedule is full through 2026, having an opening in 2027. However, Byrne recently discussed a pause on adding future games due to the uncertainty of the SEC’s conference schedule moving forward. Rodriguez may have to be a salesmen to get the game.