University Park, Pa. -- Penn State and Alabama, two of nation's most storied programs, will renew their football series in 2010-11.
The teams are scheduled to meet Sept. 11, 2010 in Alabama and Sept. 10, 2011 in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions and Crimson Tide were originally scheduled to meet in 2004 and '05, but the series was postponed at Alabama's request two years ago, with 2013 and '14 as the tentative seasons.
"We are pleased that we were able to move up the series from the years we had initially agreed upon two years ago," stated Curley. "We've had many memorable games with Alabama. We look forward to renewing a great series and giving our alumni and fans in the South and opportunity to see our team play."
Penn State and Alabama last met in 1990, completing a 10-year series. The Crimson Tide leads the series, 8-5, with the first three meetings coming in bowl games. The Lions beat the Tide in the 1959 Liberty Bowl (7-0), and Alabama won match-ups in the 1975 (13-6) and '79 (14-7) Sugar Bowls, with the latter game a dramatic match-up for the national championship.
As was the case with the trio of post-season meetings, most of the 10 regular season games from 1981-90 were close, with six of the contests decided by 10 points or less. Penn State won the last meeting, 9-0, in 1990 in Tuscaloosa.
Penn State and Alabama rank among the nation's winningest programs. The Crimson Tide are fifth with 767 victories and the Nittany Lions are seventh with 763 wins. In post-season play, Alabama is first with 52 bowl appearances and 29 wins and Penn State is eighth with 37 bowl visits and tied for fourth with 23 post-season victories. Penn State Coach Joe Paterno is the all-time leader in bowl wins (20) and appearances (31).
Alabama is the latest opponent to be announced in a series of intersectional games for Penn State against premier programs since the turn of the century. Among the Nittany Lions' non-conference opponents this decade: Miami, Fla. (2001), Southern Miss (2001), Virginia (2001-02), Nebraska (2002-03), Boston College (2003-04), Notre Dame (2006-07) and Syracuse (2008-09).