TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- To fans’ delight, Alabama finally scheduled a home-and-home series.

The Crimson Tide will travel to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame one season before hosting the Fighting Irish inside Bryant-Denny Stadium the following year. Finally. Terrific.

There is a drawback, however -- these games will not take place until the starts of the 2028 and 2029 seasons, or a decade from now. In the meantime, Alabama has neutral-site season openers scheduled against Louisville (2018), Duke (2019) and Miami (2021) in Orlando, Atlanta and Atlanta, respectively, that don’t exactly have fans sprinting to buy tickets.

But more future series are on the way, according to Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne.

“We’re a little closer,” Byrne told BamaOnLine in an exclusive interview.

Before the Notre Dame home-and-home series was officially announced, it was reported that UA was in talks with Texas and USC for potential matchups. Byrne, of course, wouldn’t name a specific team or teams but said scheduling conversations are ongoing.

“It’s a small world amongst ADs,” Byrne said. “We see each other throughout the year at different events, and I can pick up the phone and give them a call, too. So, I’ve had conversations with several different ADs about some home-and-homes, and then that have any merit to them I go and talk to Coach (Nick) Saban about them.

“Those are ongoing discussions, and there will be schools that have some interest in playing us, and there will some schools that don’t. And that’s OK, that’s part of the scheduling process.”

Alabama’s 2018 and 2019 non-conference slates are set, while 2021 has a Power 5 opponent scheduled in Miami (Sept. 4, 2021). Beyond that, and including 2020, the Tide doesn’t have a marquee non-conference game until the first meeting with Notre Dame.

Below is a full list of Alabama’s future non-conference games:

2018

Sept. 1 -- Louisville (at Orlando)

Sept. 8 -- Arkansas State

Sept. 29 -- UL-Lafayette

Nov. 17 -- The Citadel

2019

Aug. 31 -- Duke (at Atlanta)

Sept. 7 -- New Mexico State

Sept. 21 -- Southern Miss

Nov. 23 -- Western Carolina

2020

Sept. 12 -- Georgia State

Sept. 26 -- Kent State

2021

Sept. 4 -- Miami (at Atlanta)

Sept. 25 -- Southern Miss

TBD -- Mercer

2022

Sept. 3 -- Utah State

2023

Sept. 9 -- Western Kentucky

2028

Sept. 2 -- at Notre Dame

2029

Sept. 1 -- Notre Dame

So, Byrne has some slots to fill over the next decade until the Alabama-Notre Dame series. And while a lot of teams have full schedules between now and then, the AD is working to add games of interest to the Tide’s schedule, whether home-and-home or neutral-site.

“The neutral games to open the season have worked very well for us, so we want to be respectful of that,” Byrne said. “But (Saban) and I talked and both recognized that things continue to evolve and change, and so we announced the Notre Dame series.

“We’ve had some discussions with some other schools, and we’re trying to see how that looks for us. But I think it’ll probably be a combination of both some home-and-homes in the future and then some neutral games, if those make sense for us, too. And he’s been very supportive in our conversations about looking at different options down the road.”

*** Note: This was part of BamaOnLine’s exclusive interview with Byrne and is intended for BOL subscribers only. Other parts of the conversation will be shared in coming days.