Just was reading that myself:
“Alabama requested to cancel the series due to uncertainty with the SEC schedule,” [Michigan State athletic director Mark] Hollis wrote in a text message today. “While disappointed, in the spirit of collegiality, we agreed to the request.”
Everyone is supposed to feign outrage and say things like “BAMA SCARED PAWWWLLL,” despite the reason probably being that Alabama wouldn’t, in fact, have had room to play the Spartans if the SEC adopts a nine-game league slate. The only issue here is that this would have been a nice nonconference battle, and fans need more of those. Attendance is already down across college football, and part of that stems from teams scheduling opponents such as Savannah State, contests in which the favorite ends up winning by so many points that the fourth quarter gets shortened.
Basically, this isn’t anything to get upset about in a vacuum, but it does make one wonder why athletic departments bother trying to schedule something so far ahead of time to begin with
