The Chick-fil-A Kickoff game has lined up another visit to Atlanta by the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, which seems to be making the city its second home.
Alabama and Duke have agreed to open the 2019 season in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it was announced Monday.
Alabama – the defending national champion and currently ranked No. 1 – has played nine times in Atlanta since 2008: five SEC Championship games and four Chick-fil-A Kickoff games. It has gone 8-1 in those visits, including 4-0 in the Kickoff games.
The Crimson Tide will play at least one and maybe two games here next month — the SEC Championship game against Florida on Dec. 3 and possibly a College Football Playoff semifinal game in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31.
And the Tide will be back in Atlanta to start next season in a previously announced Chick-fil-A Kickoff game against Florida State.
The newly booked 2019 visit will be Alabama’s sixth appearance – more than any other team — in the annual Kickoff game, which began in 2008.
Peach Bowl Inc. president and CEO Gary Stokan attributed the success in luring Alabama so often to several factors: good relationships with coach Nick Saban and athletic director Bill Battle; the importance of metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia as a recruiting territory for the Crimson Tide; and Alabama’s belief in the value of opening its seasons in high-profile neutral-site games.
Duke will be making its first appearance in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff, although the Blue Devils played in a memorable 2013 bowl game here.
Texas A&M defeated Duke 52-48 in that game – “one of the better games we’ve ever had in Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl history,” said Stokan, whose organization runs both the postseason bowl and the season-opening event.
Stokan said the organization has great relationships with and respect for Duke coach David Cutcliffe and athletic director Kevin White. Cutcliffe is an Alabama graduate.
The Alabama-Duke game is scheduled for Aug. 31, 2019, with the kickoff time and TV network yet to be determined.
The Atlanta event is college football’s longest-running active season-opening “Kickoff” game.
The event “is like a bowl game in terms of the competitive venue that’s created,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a statement.
“Playing in this game has provided great exposure for our football program and has been something our fans have enjoyed attending,” Saban said.
Battle said neutral-site season-opening games have been “very beneficial for the Alabama brand, both athletically and for the university as a whole.”
Duke’s White called the 2019 matchup “a tremendous opportunity to play in a world-class venue against … clearly a gold standard program in college football.”
The matchup will continue the Chick-fil-A Kickoff’s record of having had an SEC team in every game. Alabama played in the inaugural game in 2008, Saban’s second season as the Crimson Tide coach.
“He consistently supports what we are doing here in Atlanta by wanting to be in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff,” Stokan said.
Two Kickoff games are scheduled next year for the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Alabama-Florida State on Sept. 2 and Georgia Tech-Tennessee on Sept. 4.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
How Alabama has fared in its nine football games in Atlanta since 2008:
Chick-fil-A Kickoff games
2008: defeated Clemson 34-10
2009: defeated Virginia Tech 34-24
2013: defeated Virginia Tech 35-10
2014: defeated West Virginia 33-23
SEC Championship games
2008: lost to Florida 31-20
2009: defeated Florida 32-13
2012: defeated Georgia 32-28
2014: defeated Missouri 42-13
2015: defeated Florida 29-15
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