Road to Another Title Game Next Season will be a Long One

by Chad Haynie, Sports Director

Cancel any summer road trips you had planned and be sure to have your automobile serviced before September, because Alabama will once again be road warriors next season. The University of Alabama and the Southeastern Conference released the 2012 football schedule on Wednesday.

If Alabama returns to the BCS National Championship Game the team will travel a combined 6,800 miles in seven road trips.

The Crimson Tide will play seven games in Tuscaloosa next season, albeit against teams that do not look to give Alabama much of a challenge. The intriguing part of UA’s 2012 slate is the road schedule.

The Tide travels to Dallas for the season opener against Michigan, then two weeks later head to Fayetteville, Ark., to face the Razorbacks.

After nearly a month of not leaving the Capstone, Alabama will make only its second trip to Columbia, Mo. The previous trip resulted in a victory over Missouri and an eventual national championship in 1978.

The next week Alabama heads to Knoxville to face Tennessee on what will actually be the Third Saturday in October. Then two weeks later it is off to Baton Rouge to face LSU in what should once again be the SEC Western Division Championship game.

Don’t think the journey stops their either. If the Tide wins the West it would mean another trip to Atlanta (by the way, who thought after 2009 it would be at least three years until UA made it back to the Georgia Dome). A win in Atlanta and Alabama could well be headed back to the BCS National Championship Game, next year that is at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

All in all the total mileage of the trips listed above comes to 3,400. One way. So start saving up for the gas cost or airline miles if you have them, because 2012 could be another special season for Alabama.

The addition of Texas A&M and Missouri resulted in scheduling changes for the entire conference. For Alabama the new expansion meant scratching games that the Crimson Tide would have played against Georgia and at Vanderbilt. Trading a home game against Georgia for Missouri on the road is like going from a dinner at Chuck’s to Arby’s for lunch. It’s a pretty big step down.

The new schedule was a huge win for Georgia, who will now probably win the East again by avoiding Alabama, Arkansas and LSU (plus Texas A&M now) for the second straight year.

While all of the Crimson Tide’s challenges come on the road, the schedule actually sets up fairly nice for Alabama. There are really not two tough games back-to-back on next year’s calendar; the hardest two-week stretch the Tide face will be the game at LSU with the Aggies traveling to Tuscaloosa the following week.

A manageable schedule is the name of the game in the SEC and Alabama has one next season. At the very least there should be some great road trips along the way, so head to the gas station and fill it up. Make sure you make it forty two dollars and fourteen cents!