Jumbo Package: Alabama will play Ohio State home and home after all

UA was scheduled to face Oklahoma State in 2028 and 2029, with the trip to Stillwater coming in 2028. That series has been canceled, OSU confirmed on Thursday, while announcing it had replaced the Crimson Tide with a home-and-home against Michigan State.

“The series replaces a two-game set scheduled against Alabama,” an Oklahoma State press release read. “The Southeastern Conference’s move to a nine-game league schedule was the dominant factor in the schedule change between the Cowboys and Crimson Tide. Following SEC shuffling, both OSU and Alabama needed home games during the same season.” It’s great to see at least one marquee home and home survive the current climate. That will be a boon for fans and advertisers alike. The other news of the day is less exciting. We’ve known it was coming, and now it’s official: The NCAA Tournament is expanded to 76 teams. “Expanding the Division I men’s and women’s basketball championships is the right decision for the student-athletes and programs that will now have access to the greatest events in college sports,” said Tim Sands, chair of the Division I board of directors and the president at Virginia Tech. “As NCAA leaders, we are especially excited to provide additional, highly competitive games for fans who look forward to March Madness every year.”

The expansion from 68 teams to 76 teams marks the men’s tournament’s largest increase since it moved to 64 teams in 1985. It went from 64 to 65 in 2001 and then added three more teams in 2011 to form the First Four. Can’t wait to see those sub-.500 conference teams get their shot! Nobody wanted this. Calipari told CBS Sports his biggest frustration remains that so much time, effort and attention has gone to increasing the NCAA Tournament when, in his view, that’s not nearly the issue that transferring has become in the past half-decade.

“Our main focus should be on fixing the transfer rules, which would help not only all the teams and athletes in our sport but teams in every sport,” he said. “And I’ll say it again: That’s where our energy should be focused.”

Brad Underwood toiled in the lower levels before hitting it big at Illinois. He’s coming off his First Final Four as a coach and should have one of the five best teams in the country this season. He told CBS Sports he’s vexed over why expansion is even an action in 2026.

“Indifference. Don’t understand. Why? Who is pushing this? If we want change, let’s do it to blow the doors off financially,” Underwood said. “This doesn’t move the needle at all. Not good for mid-majors, low-majors at all.” Don’t fret, football playoff expansion is right around the corner. The only question is how far they’ll go. College football coaches are moving forward in favor of maximum playoff expansion — potentially to 24 teams — along with several other sweeping changes across the sport, Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday.

According to American Football Coaches Association executive director Craig Bohl, the AFCA voted last week to recommend increasing the CFP bracket to a maximum number of teams, do away with conference championship games, end the season during the second week of January and protect the Army-Navy game’s exclusive time window.

The AFCA has not publicly revealed its decisions on those changes, but coaches across college football have made their opinions clear.

Earlier this year, decision-makersin the Big Ten and the SEC were at a stalemate over future CFP formats. The Big Ten prefers a 24-team field with multiple automatic qualifiers per conference, while the SEC prefers a 16-team “5+11” format. More games equals more money, and that’s all that matters. That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend. Roll Tide.