The tide has rolled out of Penn State before it even arrived.

Central Florida and Cincinnati replace Alabama on Penn State's 2004 and 2005 football schedule after they requested that the series between the Nittany Lions and the Crimson Tide be postponed until a later date.

"Alabama officials approached us with a request to postpone the dates due to the issues they were facing with NCAA sanctions," Penn State Director of Athletics Tim Curley said in a released statement. "Because we have had an excellent relationship with them in the past and we are interested in playing them in the future, we honored their request to move the series to the later dates."

The series is rescheduled for the 2013-2014 seasons. The Lions host the Crimson Tide at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 14, 2013 while traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Sept 13, 2014.

Alabama's Athletic Director Mal Moore elaborated their situation even further in a released statement. Overall, the university feels that it is in its best interest to play a home game in order to generate more revenue.

"We are faced with a substantial loss of revenue the next couple of years and it is beneficial to us to play another game in 2004. The earliest we could play a 12-game season would be 2013 and by that time, our new stadium expansion will be completed, so things just fell into place," he said.

Before the announcement Thursday evening, Alabama's Associate Director of Athletics Larry White and Penn State's Sports Information Director Jeff Nelson both confirmed that they had discussions regarding the scheduling of games, but that an official resolution has yet to be reached.

Thursday afternoon Central Florida's Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations John Marini also confirmed that discussions have been ongoing and that it looked probable that the schedule changes would be finalized.

Central Florida plays Penn State on Sept. 18, 2004 for the second time in team history.

The Lions defeated the Golden Knights 27-24 in the 2002 season opener at Beaver Stadium.

The teams are scheduled to meet again in 2010 and Marini said UCF was hoping to play another time in State College between 2005 and 2009.

The Lions meet the Bearcats for the ninth time in school history on Sept. 10, 2005.

Penn State has won the last six meetings, but the teams have not faced each other since a 24-20 win at Cincinnati in 1992.

The Lions kick off the 2003 season when they host intrastate opponent Temple on Aug. 30 at 3:30 p.m.