Alabama Announces Opening Opponent For 2010

The University of Alabama and San Jose State University football teams will meet for the first time on Saturday, September 4, 2010, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will serve as the 2010 season opener for both programs. This will be the first contest played following a two-year renovation project to the south endzone of Bryant-Denny Stadium, which is expected to push the capacity over 100,000.

“We look forward to opening the new Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2010 with San Jose State,” said head coach Nick Saban. “There will be a great deal of excitement surrounding the new stadium as we start the year with back-to-back games against San Jose State and Penn State. Dick Tomey is one of the great coaches in college football and then we follow that up with the winningest coach in the game when Joe Paterno comes in the next week.”

San Jose State will be Alabama’s first game against a team from California since playing UCLA in the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Tomey, who is entering his fifth season in 2009 as head coach of the Spartans, currently ranks fourth among active coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 181 FBS victories - trailing only Paterno, Bobby Bowden and Mack Brown.

Penn State visits Tuscaloosa on September 11, 2010, and UA makes the trip to Happy Valley on September 10, 2011. Alabama’s non-conference schedule for 2010 is now set with the addition of San Jose State. The Crimson Tide will also play at Duke on September 18 and host Georgia State on November 20.

UA earlier announced home-and-home series with Georgia Tech and Michigan State. Alabama hosts Georgia Tech on September 14, 2013, with the return to Atlanta set for September 13, 2014. The first matchup with MSU is scheduled for September 3, 2016, in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama will visit Spartan Stadium on September 2, 2017.