TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - This is a rare road trip to a Big Ten Conference school for Alabama.

How rare?

It's been 83 years since a Big Ten school has played host to Alabama since 1928. Coach Wallace Wade took a Crimson Tide team with a 3-1 record to Wisconsin, where it lost 15-0 on Nov. 3, 1928.

Alabama visited Penn State five times in the 1980s, but the Nittany Lions didn't join the Big Ten until 1993.

Alabama has played host to only one Big Ten team. That was last year when the Tide defeated Penn State 24-3.

Alabama is 7-4 all-time against Big Ten schools. Eight of those games have been played in bowls. Besides the 1928 game at Wisconsin and the 2010 Penn State game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama defeated Ohio State on Aug. 27, 1986 in East Rutherford, N.J.