College GameDay is heading to Tuscaloosa, Alabama next week.

ESPN’s college football pregame show announced Saturday morning that its Week 5 stop will be Alabama’s campus. The Crimson Tide will play host to the Georgia Bulldogs at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28 (6:30 p.m. CT on ABC).

The decision comes as no surprise, as next week’s game will pit two top-five teams against each other. Alabama (3-0) enters the game as the nation’s No. 4-ranked team, while Georgia (3-0) was ranked No. 2 in the most recent Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Week 5 matchup will be new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer’s first against Georgia. The Crimson Tide holds a 43-26-4 record in the all-time meeting and has won eight of the last nine, including last year’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, 27-24.

“I think you naturally learn more and more as you’re here longer,” said DeBoer of the rivalry between Alabama and Georgia. “And now that it’s the week of the Georgia game, or the bye week leading up to it, you continue to understand everything that surrounds the game. 

“But I think the main thing is this is, for us, our first conference game, and it’s against an opponent that is No. 1 – I guess maybe No. 2, depending on where you look – but a top-ranked team that you know brings it each and every Saturday, is gonna be extremely well-coached and we know it’s gonna be a great test for us. 

“So it’s really about the game, and there isn’t any past history with us competing against each other. And certainly, understand everything Coach Smart’s done for this program throughout the many years he put in helping us and our program grow.”

College GameDay’s Sept. 28 trip to Tuscaloosa will be Alabama’s 59th overall appearance on the ESPN pregame show, tied with Ohio State for the most all-time. The Tide is 37-21 in the last 58 appearances. GameDay traveled to the UA campus twice last year and attended the SEC title game and the Rose Bowl. Alabama was 2-2 in those contests.

Different this year, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is part of the GameDay crew. He has attended both of the Tide’s home games this year after recording the show, but this time, he won’t have to leave home. Saban was 8-2 in games against UGA at Alabama.

Next week, GameDay’s broadcast will begin at 8 a.m. CT on ESPN and run through 11 a.m.

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