New-Look Pac-12 Releases 2026 Football Schedule With a Twist

The new-look Pac-12 on Wednesday revealed its 2026 football schedule.

Washington State and Oregon State will be joined by six full-time football-playing schools in the Pac-12 in 2026. | James Snook-Imagn Images

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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