Texas 2026 Football Schedule Breakdown and Analysis

The Good

At Tennessee. That's the only game Texas plays outside of Texas until November. 

Last year, the Longhorns had a weird stretch of no home games for close to six weeks in the middle of the season - not this year. In all, just three games are outside of the state.

The Bad

Three of the last four games are on the road. 

No, the Longhorns can't cry about their away games, but November will be a bear with away dates at Missouri, LSU, and Texas A&M. 

And yes, the home games are great, but two of them are against Ohio State and Ole Miss. But on the plus side ...

What SEC Teams Texas Will Miss

Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt.

Not playing Alabama for a third year in a row is huge, and not having to deal with Georgia is outstanding, too. However, the Longhorns miss three teams that didn't go bowling.

Texas Best and Worst Case Scenarios in 2026

Best Case: Beat Ohio State

Forgotten in the fog of last season is that 1) Texas goes to the College Football Playoff if it beat Ohio State to start the season, and 2) it had the ball and was driving late with a chance to tie, or even win.

This time around, the Longhorns beat the Buckeyes, take care of Oklahoma again, and don't lose at home on the way to an 8-0 start.

There's a loss somewhere, but it doesn't matter. They beat Texas A&M, go to the SEC Championship, and have a sweet seed in the College Football Playoff.

Worst Case: It's a 2-2 September

The Longhorns lose a fight against Ohio State and biff the SEC opener at Tennessee. All of a sudden, there's no margin for error the rest of the way, and ...

They lose to Oklahoma. 

Realistically, the wheels don't totally fall off, and there's a bounceback, but more losses come in November, including a revenge loss to (gulp) Texas A&M.

Texas Football 2026 Schedule

Sept 5 Texas State
Sept 12 Ohio State
Sept 19 UTSA
Sept 26 at Tennessee
Oct 3 OPEN DATE
Oct 10 vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)
Oct 17 Florida
Oct 24 Ole Miss
Oct 31 Mississippi State
Nov 7 at Missouri
Nov 14 at LSU
Nov 21 Arkansas
Nov 28 at Texas A&M

Games That Will Decide the Texas Season

1. at Texas A&M, Nov. 28
Play it out, and one way or another, both teams will probably need this game to be able to enjoy nice things.

2. Ohio State, Sept. 12
Of course it's a non-conference game, and everything can be fine even with a loss, but historically, if Texas wins the high-profile Week 2 games - Michigan in 2024, Alabama in 2023, Ohio State in 2025 - big things happen.

3. Oklahoma, Oct. 10
It has sort of been under the radar that Texas has won three of the last four in the series.