The Pac-12 on Wednesday night announced its 2026 football schedule, with the new-look conference set to officially welcome six full-time football-playing members this fall.
Before taking a look at the schedule, here’s a quick refresher on how we got to this point. The old Pac-12 all but disbanded in 2024 amid college football’s realignment craze, as the conference was left with just two schools—Oregon State and Washington State—after the dust settled.
A brief legal battle ensued, in which the presidents of Oregon State and Washington State ultimately won control of conference rights and secured a hefty settlement. This fall, a new era begins for the conference.
Who is in the new-look Pac-12?
The Pac-12 in the fall of 2024 poached five schools from the Mountain West: Utah State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Boise State, and San Diego State. October of 2024 beckoned the arrival of Gonzaga, a non-football school. Needing one more program to retain FBS eligibility, the Pac-12 welcomed Texas State in June of 2025, ushering in a new era for Pac-12 football.
The schedule, which begins on Sept. 5, features a four-game non-conference slate for each team to begin the year, followed by a seven-game round-robin slate of intra-conference contests with one bye week each during that stretch of play. The schedule then finishes up with a unique home-and-home flex matchup between the conference’s eight schools (more on that later).
Here’s a look at the full 2026 Pac-12 football schedule. Note: There are no Pac-12 games in Week 0, the conference's season begins in Week 1.
| Boise State | Colorado State | Fresno State | Oregon State | San Diego State | Texas State | Utah State | Washington State | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (Sept. 5) | at Oregon | vs. Wyoming | at USC | at Houston | vs. Portland State | at Texas | vs. Idaho State | at Washington |
| Week 2 (Sept. 12) | vs. Memphis | vs. Southern Utah | vs. Sac. State | vs. Texas Tech | at UCLA | vs. UTSA | at Washington State | at Kansas State |
| Week 3 (Sept. 19) | vs. South Dakota | vs. BYU | at San Jose State | vs. Montana | vs. JMU | vs. North Texas | at Utah | vs. Duquesne |
| Week 4 | at Western Michigan | at UTSA | vs. Rice | at UTEP | at Toledo | vs. Incarnate Word | vs. Troy | vs. Arizona |
| Week 5 | vs. Utah State | vs. Oregon State | at Washington State | at Colorado State | vs. Texas State | at San Diego State | at Boise State | vs. Fresno State |
| Week 6 | at Fresno State | BYE | vs. Boise State | vs. San Diego State | at Oregon State | BYE | vs. Washington State | at Utah State |
| Week 7 | BYE | at Texas State | at San Diego State | vs. Washington State | vs. Fresno State | vs. Colorado State | BYE | at Oregon State |
| Week 8 | at Washington State | vs. San Diego State | BYE | BYE | at Colorado State | vs. Utah State | at Texas State | vs. Boise State |
| Week 9 | vs. Texas State | at Utah State | vs. Oregon State | at Fresno State | vs. Washington State | at Boise State | vs. Colorado State | at San Diego State |
| Week 10 | at Colorado State | vs. Boise State | at Utah State | vs. Texas State | BYE | at Oregon State | vs. Fresno State | BYE |
| Week 11 | vs. Oregon State | at Washington State | at Texas State | at Boise State | vs. Utah State | vs. Fresno State | at San Diego State | vs. Colorado State |
| Week 12 | vs. San Diego State | at Fresno State | vs. Colorado State | vs. Utah State | at Boise State | vs. Washington State | at Oregon State | at Texas State |
| Week 13 | FLEX (on road) | FLEX (at home) | FLEX (at home) | FLEX (on road) | FLEX (on road) | FLEX (on road) | FLEX (at home) | FLEX (at home) |
The schedule features several marquee non-conference matchups, including notable early games like Boise State at Oregon, Oregon State vs. Texas Tech, and James Madison at San Diego State.
The season culminates with a championship game hosted at the home venue of the highest seed, with the matchup set to be determined after Week 12.
“We can’t wait to kick off the new era of Pac-12 football,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould in the press release. “Today’s schedule release is a major milestone on our path to launch, and the creativity behind our 2026 format reflects the strategic vision for what this conference will become.”
The Pac-12 to implement flex weekend in 2026
After 12 weeks of play, the Pac-12 is implementing a home-and-home flex matchup for Week 13, the season’s final contest. These games feature four predetermined home teams and four predetermined road teams that will be considered non-conference games in terms of the standings. Here are the tentative matchups, which were included in the Pac-12’s press release obtained by Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer.
Boise State at Utah State
Texas State at Colorado State
San Diego State at Fresno State
Oregon State at Washington State
The Pac-12, per its press release, will have the right to adjust these four matchups to ensure optimal positioning for a potential College Football Playoff appearance or to ensure that Week 13 and the conference championship game are not repeat matchups.
So, let’s say a 10-win Oregon State team that has secured the Pac-12’s top seed is set to face off against a two-win Washington State team in Week 13. To potentially aid both the Beavers’ College Football Playoff resume and the game’s television ratings, the Pac-12 could swap out Washington State for a better opponent, boosting Oregon State’s strength of schedule. In 2026, the highest-ranked team from one of the Group of Six conferences, regardless of whether it’s a conference champion or not, will receive an automatic bid.
The Pac-12’s scheduling flexibility, in theory, gives the conference the best possible chance to angle itself for that automatic bid.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as New-Look Pac-12 Releases 2026 Football Schedule With a Twist .
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