Bama Vs USC in 2016 is now official

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Alabama and USC will face off in the 2016 season opener on Sept. 3, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

By facing USC in their 2016 opener, coach Nick Saban and Alabama will fulfill the new SEC mandate to play at least one nonconference game against a power-5 conference school.
The Cowboys Classic will mark the eighth meeting between the two programs. Alabama got the best of USC the last time they met, winning 24-3 in the 1985 Aloha Bowl.

The game against the Trojans is only the latest of the Crimson Tide's high-profile neutral-site openers. Alabama will play West Virginia in Atlanta this season and Wisconsin in Arlington in 2015.

By adding the nonconference tilt with USC, Alabama fulfills its new obligation from the SEC to begin scheduling at least one nonconference game against a power-5 conference, starting in 2016.

Last summer, Alabama canceled a previously scheduled home-and-home series with Michigan State for 2016 and '17. Tide athletic director Bill Battle said at the time that the move was done because of "the uncertainty of conference football schedule in those years." But, according to coach Nick Saban, he tried and failed to convince the Spartans to move the game to a neutral site.

The last time Alabama traveled to AT&T Stadium, it got the best of Michigan, beating the Wolverines 41-14 to kick off the 2012 season.

Florida State and Oklahoma State will play in the 2014 Cowboys Classic.

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