Alabama College Football Schedule: UAB Hosts ECU Thursday, Jaguars Play Tuesday at Marshall

MOBILE, Ala. — College football in Alabama is running on an unusual clock this week. The Alabama college football schedule opens on a Thursday night in Birmingham, peaks with two of the South’s oldest rivalries on Saturday afternoon and doesn’t wrap up until South Alabama takes the field on a Tuesday night next week.

UAB gets things started tonight, Thursday, Oct. 15, when the Blazers host East Carolina at 6:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game. South Alabama, meanwhile, will wait until Tuesday, Oct. 20, to play its next game, a 6:30 p.m. Sun Belt Conference matchup at Marshall that will also be shown nationally.

In between, Auburn and Alabama both hit the road for rivalry games with major implications in the Southeastern Conference standings.

UAB opens the week at home against East Carolina

The Blazers and the Pirates meet tonight in Birmingham in a 6:30 p.m. kickoff that will be broadcast to a national audience. UAB plays its home games at Protective Stadium, the downtown Birmingham venue that opened in 2021, and both programs are members of The American, the conference UAB joined in 2023 after leaving Conference USA.

Weeknight games have become a regular part of the college football calendar for schools outside the sport’s biggest conferences. The trade-off for playing on a Thursday or a Tuesday is a national television window without competition from the Saturday slate, which gives programs such as UAB and South Alabama exposure they might not otherwise get.

South Alabama’s Tuesday trip to Marshall

South Alabama’s next game is also on a weeknight. The Jaguars travel to Huntington, W.Va., to face Marshall on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:30 p.m. in a Sun Belt Conference game that will be nationally televised.

It will be South Alabama’s second straight national television appearance. Last Thursday night, the Jaguars beat Arkansas State 56-49 in Jonesboro, Ark., a wild game that improved South Alabama to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in Sun Belt play. The Thursday game left the Jaguars with an open Saturday this week and extra time to prepare for the trip to West Virginia.

Marshall enters the game at 3-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The Thundering Herd joined the Sun Belt in 2022 along with Old Dominion, Southern Miss and James Madison, part of a conference expansion that reshaped the league’s East and West divisions.

Auburn faces No. 1 Georgia in the ‘Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry’

Saturday’s marquee games start with Auburn’s trip to Athens, Ga., to face No. 1-ranked Georgia in the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.” The series dates to 1892, when the two schools met in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park,, making it one of the oldest rivalries in college football.

The two teams arrive from very different weeks. Auburn is coming off an open date in its schedule, giving the Tigers an extra week to rest and prepare. Georgia, meanwhile, is coming off a road win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa last Saturday, a victory that kept the Bulldogs at the top of the national rankings.

Earlier this month, Auburn head coach Alex Golesh told a Mobile audience that his team had a lot to improve on before facing a difficult stretch that includes Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss.

Alabama visits Tennessee on the Third Saturday in October

Alabama, which held its spot at No. 6 in the national Top 25 poll despite the loss to Georgia, travels to Knoxville to face No. 14-ranked Tennessee in the annual rivalry known as the “Third Saturday in October.” This year’s game falls on exactly that date, Oct. 17.

The Alabama-Tennessee series dates to 1901 and is one of the most storied in the SEC. Winning players and coaches traditionally light victory cigars after the game, a custom that has become one of the most recognizable postgame traditions in the sport.

Both the Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee games kick off at 2:30 p.m. and will be nationally televised, meaning fans of both state schools will be watching at the same time.

Other games worth watching

The week is full of rivalry games and matchups that will shape conference standings. Among the other notable games involving teams from the state, the SEC and the Sun Belt:

• Mississippi State at LSU
• Florida at Texas
• Troy at Louisiana
• Kentucky at Oklahoma
• Missouri at Ole Miss

The Troy-Louisiana game is a Sun Belt matchup with both programs looking to improve their positions in the conference standings. Texas and Oklahoma are in their third season as members of the SEC after joining the league from the Big 12 in 2024.

More of this week’s schedule

Here are kickoff times for additional games involving teams from the state, the SEC and the Sun Belt:

• Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina: 7 p.m.
• Andrew College at Faulkner: 1 p.m.
• Alabama State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff: 2 p.m.

Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina are Sun Belt East Division rivals, which places the game in the same division race as South Alabama’s upcoming opponent, Marshall. Faulkner, a private university in Montgomery, hosts Andrew College of Cuthbert, Ga. Alabama State, from Montgomery, plays a Southwestern Athletic Conference game at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Why the week matters

The middle of October is when conference races begin to separate. For Auburn and Alabama, road games against ranked opponents will go a long way toward defining their SEC seasons. For South Alabama, the trip to Marshall is a chance to stay unbeaten in Sun Belt play as the Jaguars move into the second half of the season. For UAB, a home game on national television offers a showcase in front of a wider audience.

How to follow the games

All of the featured games involving UAB, South Alabama, Auburn and Alabama are scheduled for national television. Fans should check their local listings for channel information.

• Thursday, Oct. 15: East Carolina at UAB, 6:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 17: Auburn at No. 1 Georgia, 2:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 17: No. 6 Alabama at No. 14 Tennessee, 2:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 20: South Alabama at Marshall, 6:30 p.m.