Kansas Football Releases Full 2026 Schedule: Who Do the Jayhawks Play?

The Kansas Jayhawks have finished 5-7 in consecutive seasons, marking two disappointing campaigns for Lance Leipold's squad. In both years, KU received what was initially viewed as a favorable schedule draw, yet still failed to reach bowl eligibility.

Now, the Jayhawks will look to get back above .500 with a strong season in 2026. On Wednesday, the full list of opponents for KU was released by the Big 12 Conference.

There are several intriguing games on the schedule for the Jayhawks. Let's take a look at what the 12-game slate looks like.

IT’S HERE. 🏈🗓️

🔗→ https://t.co/8TWXlpyoXo pic.twitter.com/iNW0j4QClu
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) January 21, 2026

Kansas Football 2026 Schedule

Sept. 4: LIU (Home)
Sept. 12: Missouri (Home)
Sept. 19: Arizona State (Neutral)
Oct. 3: Middle Tennessee State (Home)
Oct. 10: Utah (Road)
Oct. 17: Kansas State (Road)
Oct. 24: Baylor (Home)
Oct. 31: TCU (Road)
Nov. 7: UCF (Home)
Nov. 14: West Virginia (Road)
Nov. 21: BYU (Home)
Nov. 28: Oklahoma State (Road)

KU's nonconference slate opens with a Friday night matchup against Long Island University, an FCS school. That tune-up game will lead into the second contest of the season against Missouri as the second part of a home-and-home series.

The Jayhawks fell to the Tigers in the Border Showdown this year in Columbia 42-31 in a tight contest, but they will look to turn their fortunes around with the game being played in Lawrence. Following that, KU will have just six days to prepare for the highly anticipated matchup against Arizona State in London at Wembley Stadium.

This is certainly a tough turnaround for a team that will have played its biggest rival in an intense atmosphere and then has to travel overseas for a game less than a week later with a six-hour time difference. Regardless, KU will receive a much-needed bye after that contest before finishing nonconference play with a home matchup against Middle Tennessee State.

After that point, conference play truly ramps up. The team opens Big 12 action with back-to-back road tests, beginning with a challenging trip to Utah under first-year head coach Morgan Scalley.

The Jayhawks will then face Kansas State in the Sunflower Showdown relatively early in the season in Week 7, this time in Manhattan after KU was soundly beaten at home in last year's meeting.

Those games are followed by a home matchup against Baylor, a road trip to Fort Worth to take on TCU, and another David Booth Memorial Stadium contest against UCF. The final meetings come against West Virginia on the road, BYU at home, and the Jayhawks will close the season in Stillwater.

What makes this conference draw so concerning is that the Arizona State game counts as a home game despite being played at a neutral site. That means the Jayhawks will play one neutral-site game, five true road games, and only three games in home-equivalent home environments during the Booth's construction.

It is about as difficult of a schedule as Kansas could have received, largely due to the neutral-site matchup. The Big 12 could have structured this more favorably to give KU some leeway, but that wasn't the case. We'll see how the Jayhawks respond in 2026, but on paper, this is far from an ideal schedule.