Texas Football Schedule 2026: Dates, Opponents and Key Games

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2026 TEAM SCHEDULE
Texas Longhorns
Arch’s year two, with No. 1 coming to town
PRESEASON RANK
No. 5
CFP semifinalists in two of the last three years
THE SHOWDOWN
Sept. 12
No. 1 Ohio State in Austin, 7:30 p.m. ET
IN-STATE GAMES
9 of 13
Seven in Austin, Dallas and College Station too
THE FINALE
Black Friday
At Texas A&M, Nov. 27, 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC
The full 2026 schedule
Home games at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium; rankings are preseason AP; times ET

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The games that will decide the season
Circle these four
Game The stakes
Ohio State, Sept. 12 No. 1 at No. 5, in Austin at night – the home-and-home’s return leg and the earliest college football has ever felt like January
Oklahoma in Dallas, Oct. 10 The Red River Rivalry with both teams ranked – the Cotton Bowl split-crowd classic, 3:30 kick for the third straight year
At LSU, Nov. 14 A November night-capable trip to Death Valley against Lane Kiffin’s first LSU team – the road test the committee will weigh heaviest
At Texas A&M, Black Friday The rivalry’s return trip to Kyle Field on Nov. 27 in primetime – a top-10 Lone Star finale with everything attached
SCHEDULE FACTS
First trip to Neyland, ever
Texas and Tennessee have met only three times – all at the Cotton Bowl – so Sept. 26 is the Longhorns’ first game in Knoxville in series history.
The bye lands perfectly
Oct. 3 off sits between the Tennessee trip and Red River – the rest week every Texas coach would draw up.
A brutal closing kick
Three of the final four are on the road – Missouri, LSU and College Station – with only Arkansas at home to breathe.

The Gauntlet Austin Asked For

Texas gets the sport’s marquee nonconference game, both blood rivalries and the SEC’s new nine-game load in one season – a slate that will settle its playoff seed the hard way, under the format covered in how the College Football Playoff works. The season’s framework is governed by the NCAA.

The Bottom Line

Ohio State in Week 2, Oklahoma at the fair, LSU in November and A&M on Black Friday – Texas’ 2026 schedule reads like a playoff bracket before the playoff starts, and Arch Manning’s second season will be graded against all of it.