The SEC’s Third Saturday in October rivalry is bringing back its colorful past.

Alabama and Tennessee will both wear their home uniforms when they meet this season at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville and next year at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, the schools announced Wednesday.

The Third Saturday in October 🔥

For the first time since 1970, Tennessee and Alabama will wear their home unis in the 2026 and 2027 rivalry games. pic.twitter.com/IJelAeGpb8

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 19, 2026

“The Third Saturday in October stands alone in college football, and we are excited to restore one of its most iconic traditions as both teams wear their home jerseys,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in the statement.

Alabama and Tennessee have played 108 times dating back to 1901. It’s a rivalry famous for the weekend on which it is usually — but not always — played and also for the winners lighting up victory cigars.

Before 1970, the Crimson Tide and the famously orange Volunteers usually wore their traditional bold-colored jerseys when playing each other.

College football rules now require one team to wear dark colors and the other team to wear white jerseys, but exceptions can be made upon request.

It has long been a tradition that USC (cardinal) and UCLA (blue) both wear home uniforms when they play their annual crosstown rivalry game. Utah (crimson) and BYU (blue) also typically do this for the Holy War.

Here are five more rivalry games that would benefit from a color rush.

Kansas-Missouri. Now that the border rivals are playing again, put the Jayhawks in blue and crimson and the Tigers in black and gold to make it really pop.

Iowa-Iowa State. The Cy-Hawk rivals do this in other sports, with the Hawkeyes in black and gold and the Cyclones in cardinal and gold. Iowa State has fallen in love with black and white alternate jerseys in recent years, but let’s get both teams in their traditional colors.

Oregon-Washington. The Ducks and Huskies tried this a couple of seasons ago, and Oregon went full yellow highlighter against UW’s royal purple. You never know what you’re going to get with the Ducks. We’d like to try this again with Oregon going for a traditional green jersey.

Florida State-Florida. Georgia and Florida tried this in the 2010s, and we’d endorse the Bulldogs and Gators trying it again. Could work just as well with Florida’s blue jerseys and Florida State decked out in garnet.

Kentucky-Louisville. Big blue nation against cardinal red. Let’s make it happen.

— Scott Dochterman, Seth Emerson and Matt Baker contributed to this report.

Chelsea striker Liam Delap has lost the number nine shirt at the club and is one of several players now training separately to the main squad.

A number of players who could move before the transfer window closes on 1 September – including fellow forward Nicolas Jackson and winger Mykhailo Mudryk – are in a second training group at Cobham.

But club sources insist it is nothing like the “bomb squad” approach taken last season when several players were frozen out.

Fringe players such as Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi trained at different times last summer, on different pitches and in separate buildings.

Their treatment prompted the Professional Footballers’ Association to contact Chelsea – but it is understood the players’ union has no such concerns with the current approach.

The players in the smaller group are training adjacent to Xabi Alonso’s main squad and joined by defenders Tosin Adarabioyo and Disasi, but also new signings Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson.

There were 12 players in the smaller group on Wednesday, although that number fluctuates. Academy players are also involved, and movement between the two groups remains possible.

Chelsea are seeking £65m for Senegal striker Jackson – who spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich – and £50m for Delap, while French defender Disasi has an asking price of £25m.

Ukraine international Mudryk, 25, has not played a competitive match since November 2024, although he is now free to play after resolving a doping case and is available on loan. Tosin, 28, is attracting interest from Benfica, Marseille and a number of Premier League clubs.

The Blues are trying to reduce the size of their squad before the end of the summer transfer window, with 40 senior players on their books.

Englishman Delap joined the club in a £30m move from Ipswich Town last summer but only scored one Premier League goal in 28 Premier League appearances, 16 of which were as a substitute.

He was awarded the number nine shirt, but that has now gone to fellow forward Joao Pedro.

When Joe Root left the field for the first time in his second stint as England’s Test captain, he did so with Harry Brook’s arm over his shoulder.

Two Yorkshiremen. Two England batters. The only two candidates when England needed to replace Ben Stokes as skipper.

Brook could have appeared scorned after being overlooked for his friend and team-mate. Root could have been keen to show he is the one with the power once again.

Instead, the pair dovetailed throughout as England took the first steps in recovering from previous turmoils to dismiss Pakistan for 171 on day one of their new era at Headingley. It was an encouraging start.

Root had already celebrated his return by winning the toss and watching Ollie Robinson take a wicket with the game’s first ball, and the match was only five balls old when Brook’s influence was first felt.

As Pakistan number three Shan Masood poked, Brook, who has shown himself a canny tactician as white-ball captain, suggested a reinforced gully region.

Root, who was criticised for his feel during his first spell in charge, was happy to agree, though a ruthless streak was soon shown when Jofra Archer was hooked from the attack after two wayward overs with the new ball.

Positioned at mid-off rather than the slips, and with his two young children watching on, he expertly controlled the flow of the game.

Root has made the move from the slips – where he has taken more than two thirds of his joint-record 218 Test catches – to make it easier for him to be in the ear of his bowlers.

It also allowed him to ensure the ball was always returned to the bowler via their captain. Nothing could happen until the 35-year-old had let go of the ball.

Captaining from mid-off was a tactic used by Root’s predecessor Stokes and former skipper Michael Vaughan – another influential figure in Root’s career, having come through the same Sheffield club.

“I might not be as dynamic as Ben but we’ll see if we can make it work,” Root said on Tuesday.

In Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue he has an exciting pace quartet but one still raw.