The 2009 season opener between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Virginia Tech Hokies, rumored for months, has now been made official. The two teams will face off in the 2009 Chick-fil-A College Kickoff at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday, September 5.

In their 2008 season opener at the Georgia Dome, Alabama defeated the Clemson Tigers 34-10. The Crimson Tide went on to win their next 11 games before losing in the SEC Championship game to the Florida Gators.

Alabama and Virginia Tech have met a total of 11 times since 1932. The Crimson Tide are 10-1 against the Hokies. In their last meeting in the 1998 Music City Bowl, Virginia Tech defeated Alabama 38-7.

Related Links:

• 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Schedule
• Alabama Crimson Tide Fan Shop
• 2009 Virginia Tech Hokies Football Schedule
• Virginia Tech Hokies Fan Shop

Gentry Estes, a writer for the Mobile Press-Register, is reporting that some tentative information on Alabama’s 2009 football schedule has been released. The schedule includes non-conference games against Virginia Tech (at Atlanta, GA), Florida International, North Texas and Chattanooga.

Using this information, we have updated the 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Schedule as well as a few other 2009 SEC schedules.

On Saturday, the Florida Gators won the 2008 SEC Championship by beating the previously unbeaten Alabama Crimson Tide 31-20. The win propelled the Gators to the BCS National Championship game. Now you can celebrate the Gators victory with apparel and merchandise from our fan shop.

3-Day shipping is only $4.99 for any size order in the continental United States. Orders over $75 qualify for free 3-Day shipping (use code Free3Day). Click on the image below for more information and to place your order:

The 2008 college football regular season is almost over. The final weekend features several interesting matchups, plus the conference championship games for the ACC, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC and SEC. Listed below are the games:

Thursday, December 4

• Louisville at Rutgers - 7:30 p.m.; ESPN (Buy Tickets)

Friday, December 5

• MAC Championship
  Ball State vs. Buffalo - 8:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2 (Buy Tickets)

Saturday, December 6

• Conference USA Championship
  East Carolina at Tulsa - 12:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2
• ACC Championship
  Boston College vs. Virginia Tech - 1:00 p.m. ET; ABC (Buy Tickets)
• SEC Championship
  Alabama vs. Florida - 4:00 p.m. ET; CBS (Buy Tickets)
• Big 12 Championship
  Missouri vs. Oklahoma - 8:00 p.m. ET; ABC (Buy Tickets)

• Army vs. Navy - 12:00 p.m. ET; CBS (Buy Tickets)
• Pittsburgh at Connecticut - 12:00 p.m. ET; ESPN (Buy Tickets)
• USC at UCLA - 4:30 p.m. ET; ABC (Buy Tickets)
• South Florida at West Virginia - 8:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2 (Buy Tickets)
• Arizona State at Arizona - 9:00 p.m. ET; FSAZ/ESPN GP (Buy Tickets)
• Cincinnati at Hawaii - 11:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2 (Buy Tickets)

The 2008 SEC Championship football game is set with the Alabama Crimson Tide facing the Florida Gators. The game will be held on Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Tickets for the game are available through our preferred vendor Stubhub.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are currently ranked number one in the latest BCS rankings. They are 11-0 (7-0 SEC) on the season. Their final regular season game is this Saturday at home against Auburn at 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).

The Florida Gators are currently ranked number four in the BCS. They have a 10-1 record (7-1 SEC), with their only loss coming against Ole Miss at home. They play at the No. 20 Florida State Seminoles on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC).

Listed below are links to all of our vendors for SEC Championship Football Tickets:

• SEC Championship Football Tickets - Stubhub
• SEC Championship Football Tickets - RazorGator
• SEC Championship Football Tickets - TickCo.com
• SEC Championship Football Tickets - TicketsNow
• SEC Championship Football Tickets - TicketNetwork

ESPN is reporting that Phil Fulmer will step down as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers effective at the end of the 2008 season. Fulmer has an overall record of 150-51 during his career at Tennessee, which began in 1992.

Fulmer led the Volunteers to the 1998 National Championship and SEC Championships in 1997 and 1998. The Volunteers (3-6, 1-5 SEC) have lost 5 of their last 7 games. The South Carolina Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier, a nemesis of Fulmer, beat Tennessee 27-6 on Saturday.

According to Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston Daily Mail, LSU and West Virginia have verbally agreed to schedule a home-and-home football series for 2010 and 2011. The game would be played at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge in 2010 and at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown in 2011.

The news continues a pattern of strong non-conference scheduling by the Mountaineers. Listed below are their oppponents through 2015:

• 2009 - Colorado, East Carolina, Liberty, Marshall, at Auburn
• 2010 - Coastal Carolina, at LSU, Marshall, Maryland
• 2011 - LSU, at Marshall, at Maryland
• 2012 - Florida State, Marshall, at Maryland
• 2013 - at Florida State, Maryland, East Carolina (site TBA)
• 2014 - Michigan State (site TBA), East Carolina (site TBA)
• 2015 - at Michigan State (site TBA), East Carolina (site TBA)

We have posted the rest of the 2009 SEC Football Schedules, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Some of the schedules have not been officially released yet, so only the confirmed games are listed.

This weekend, we added schedules for Auburn, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi State. Listed below are links to the schedules that were just added:

• 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Schedule
• 2009 Arkansas Razorbacks Football Schedule
• 2009 Kentucky Wildcats Football Schedule
• 2009 LSU Tigers Football Schedule
• 2009 Ole Miss Rebels Football Schedule
• 2009 South Carolina Football Schedule
• 2009 Tennessee Volunteers Football Schedule
• 2009 Vanderbilt Commodores Football Schedule

The 2009 Auburn Tigers Football Schedule has been posted. The Tigers open the season at home against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on September 5. On September 19, the Tigers have a tough non-conference matchup at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Other non-conference games for Auburn include Ball State and Furman.

SEC games for the Tigers in 2009 include home games with Mississippi State, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Alabama. The Tigers have a tough SEC road schedule with games at Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia.

The 2009 Mississippi State Bulldogs Football Schedule has been uploaded. The Bulldogs have a non-conference slate that includes Georgia Tech, Houston, Jackson State and at Middle Tennessee.

SEC games for Mississippi State in 2009 include home games with LSU, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss. The Bulldogs will travel to face Auburn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Arkansas.

We have uploaded the 2009 Florida Gators Football Schedule. Although the Gators have the usual tough SEC schedule, they face a relatively light non-conference schedule. Florida will play Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida International and arch-rival Florida State all at home.

SEC matchups for the Gators in 2009 are Tennessee, at Kentucky, at LSU, Arkansas, at Mississippi State, Georgia (at Jacksonville), Vanderbilt and at South Carolina.

We have posted the 2009 Georgia Bulldogs Football Schedule. The Bulldogs, who have one of the nation’s toughest 2008 schedules, face another difficult slate in 2009. The Dawgs open the season with a big non-conference game at Oklahoma State on September 5.

The Dawgs will also play non-conference games against Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Tennessee Tech. SEC games for Georgia include South Carolina, at Arkansas, LSU, at Tennessee, at Vanderbilt, Florida (at Jacksonville), Auburn and Kentucky.

Despite trailing 13-0 in the first quarter, the 19th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the 14th-ranked Auburn Tigers 14-13 in Nashville. Vanderbilt improves to 5-0 (3-0 SEC) for the first time since 1943, while Auburn falls to 4-2 (2-2 SEC) on the season.

Next up for the Commodores are two straight SEC road games. Vandy plays at Mississippi State on October 11 and at Georgia on October 18. The Tigers have a home game against Arkansas next Saturday followed by an off week. Auburn plays at West Virginia on Thursday, October 23.

The USC Trojans rolled in to Corvallis last night ranked number one in both polls with blowout wins over Ohio State and Virginia. They left with a damaging 27-21 loss to the Oregon State Beavers.

Trailing 21-0 at half, the Trojans came back to within a touchdown. But late in the 4th quarter, a Mark Sanchez pass was intercepted by OSU saftety Greg Laybourn. Jacquizz Rodgers, who rushed for 186 yards, punched it in from there to give the Beavers a 14-point lead late in the game.

The loss by the Trojans has shaken up the BCS race. USC was heavily favored to finish first. Now they may have to settle for the Rose Bowl and a rematch against Ohio State.

The teams behind USC will all move up after this weekend if they win. Oklahoma hosts a 4-0 TCU team, Georgia hosts 4-0 and 10th ranked Alabama (8th in AP Poll), Florida travels to Arkansas and LSU hosts Mississippi State. The Missouri Tigers are off this weekend.

So what do you think? Which team has the best chance of taking over the number one ranking after this weekend? Who do you predict will play in the BCS Championship game?

ESPN Gameday will broadcast their college football preview show this weekend from Athens, the site of the No. 10 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia game. Gameday last visited Athens, Georgia in 1998 for the Bulldogs’ matchup against Tennessee.

Due to logistical concerns around Sanford Stadium, Gameday will set up in the Myers Quad area. Fans will be allowed into the barricaded area behind the set beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday.

ESPN Gameday broadcasts live at 10:00 a.m. ET. The show is hosted by Chris Fowler, along with analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard. The game will be broadcast by ESPN at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Hurricane Ike is expected to make landfall this evening at around midnight near Galveston, Texas. Due to the strength and destruction caused by storms of this magnitude, several football games have been rescheduled. Here are the latest updates:

• Washington State at Baylor - Baylor, located in Waco, Texas, moved its game against the Cougars from Saturday to tonight at 7:30 p.m CT.

• Missouri State at Oklahoma State - The Oklahoma State Cowboys were scheduled to host Missouri State on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CT. The game time has been moved up to 12:05 p.m. CT on Saturday.

• Arkansas at Texas - This game between the Razorbacks of the SEC and the Longhorns of the Big 12 has been rescheduled for September 27, 2008. Both teams had Sept. 27 as an open date.

• Stanford at TCU - The Horned Frogs were scheduled to host the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday at 6:00 p.m CT. The game time has been moved up to 12:00 p.m. CT.

• Air Force at Houston - The Houston Cougars have moved their home game against the Air Force Falcons to SMU’s stadium in Dallas. The game will kick-off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.

• (NFL) Baltimore at Houston - The Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans game was rescheduled for Monday night. However, damage to Reliant Stadium has forced the postponement of the game until further notice.

The Fresno State Bulldogs of the Western Athletic Conference have added games with Ole Miss, Nebraska and Colorado to its future football schedules, Athletics Director Thomas Boeh announced on Wednesday.

A three-game series with Ole Miss will begin in Oxford, with the Bulldogs traveling to play the Rebels on September 25, 2010.  Ole Miss will become the first SEC school to travel to Bulldog Stadium on October 1, 2011, and the series will be completed in 2015 at Mississippi.  These two schools have not met previously.

The Bulldogs also added Colorado, with the first game of that series being at Boulder on September 24, 2011.  The Buffaloes will then travel to Bulldog Stadium for the first time on September 15, 2012.  The series will finish up in 2013 in Boulder.  Fresno State has faced Colorado five times previously for a 1-4 record, with the win coming in 2001 at Colorado.

Fresno State and Nebraska will meet for the first time ever on September 10, 2011 in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The Cornhuskers will travel to Fresno on September 13, 2014 and the final game of the series will be at Nebraska in 2016.

• Kansas at South Florida (USF) - Fri., Sept. 12, 2008 (Buy Tickets)
  The Kansas Jayhawks (Blog) square off against the USF Bulls for only the second time. Kansas won the first meeting 13-7 back in 2006. The game will be televised by ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

• Georgia at South Carolina - Sat., Sept. 13, 2008 (Buy Tickets)
  No. 2 Georgia travels to Columbia to face Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks (Blog). Carolina upset UGA 16-12 last season in Athens. The Dawgs lead the overall series 41-14-2, and usually win in Columbia. The game will be televised by CBS at 3:30 p.m. ET.

• Michigan at Notre Dame - Sat., Sept. 13, 2008 (Buy Tickets)
  Michigan, 1-1 under new head coach Rich Rodriguez, travels to “The House That Rockne Built” to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Blog 1, Blog 2). The Wolverines (Blog 1, Blog 2) lead the overall series 17-14-1 and have won the last two games. The game will be televised by NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

• Oregon at Purdue - Sat., Sept. 13, 2008 (Buy Tickets)
  The Oregon Ducks (Blog) travel 2,300 miles to play the Purdue Boilermakers. The only game between these two schools was in 1979 and Purdue won 13-7. The game will be televised by ESPN/ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

• Wisconsin at Fresno State - Sat., Sept. 13, 2008 (Buy Tickets)
  10th ranked Wisconsin (Blog) travels to California to face the 21st ranked Fresno State Bulldogs. These two schools have met twice. Fresno State won 32-20 in 2001 and Wisconsin won 23-21 in 2002. The game will be televised by ESPN2 at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC and the UConn Huskies of the Big East Conference have announced a home-and-home football series beginning in 2015. The first game will be played at Rentschler Field in Connecticut on September 26, 2015. The second game will be played at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 3, 2016.

The game in 2015 at UConn will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. The Volunteers already have non-conference games scheduled against the Oklahoma Sooners in 2015 and at the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Connecticut Huskies have games against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tentatively scheduled for 2015 and 2016. These games may be moved since it is unlikely that UConn will play Notre Dame and Tennessee in the same year.

Like the New Mexico State-Nicholls State football game, the Troy Trojans at LSU Tigers game was also affected by Hurricane Gustav. It hasn’t been cancelled, but rescheduled for November 15 because both teams were scheduled to be off that week.

LSU will now face Troy at home between hosting SEC contests against Alabama on Nov. 8 and Ole Miss on Nov. 22 (2008 LSU Tigers Football Schedule). Check out the popular LSU blog And The Valley Shook for some good LSU information.

The Troy Trojans schedule now sandwiches the LSU game between home games against Western Kentucky on Nov. 8 and Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 22 (2008 Troy Trojans Football Schedule).