Stanford Football Makes Big Potential Adjustment to 2026 Schedule

A new opponent has entered the chat, forcing a familiar game to be pushed back.

Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal general manager Andrew Luck walks on the field before the game against the Boston College Eagles at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Stanford football is entering a new era, and that era will look way different in a variety of ways. Not only will the Cardinal have a new head coach in Tavita Pritchard at the helm, but they will also face a new slew of rules for the 2026 season.

Next year, the ACC announced that the number of conference games would increase from eight to nine, leaving teams less flexibility in terms of non-conference scheduling.

Because of that, there is a very big change coming to Stanford's schedule next season. Instead of facing San Jose State in the third straight edition of the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, the Cardinal announced earlier this week that they would instead take on the FCS program, Elon, on October 17.

Because of that adjustment, the Cardinal's game against San Jose State in San Jose will be moved back to 2031. The Cardinal and San Jose State will still meet at Stanford Stadium in 2028 in the meantime.

Facing Elon for the first time ever, the Cardinal are using that game as a chance to put some more winnable games on their schedule in order to set them up for a potential bowl game in 2026 if they continue upon their path of improvement.

Finishing 4-8 last season after going 3-9 in four straight years, the Cardinal have been unable to even earn bowl consideration since 2018. Now, the Cardinal's non-conference slate includes games against Elon and Hawaii, with one more game needed to complete the non-conference slate.

Aside from swapping San Jose State from Elon, the rest of Stanford's schedule remains largely unchanged. The Cardinal's home ACC slate includes games against Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State and SMU while the Cardinal will hit the road to face Cal, Duke, Louisville, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.

Stanford's road game against Virginia Tech would mark the first time in program history that they will take the trip out to Blacksburg. Prior to joining the ACC in 2024, the Cardinal were not supposed to head to Virginia Tech until 2027 at the earliest. Meeting twice in total, once in 2024 and once in the 2011 Orange Bowl, the two teams are 1-1 against each other, with the 2026 matchup serving as the rubber match.

The one big potential change here is that the yearly Notre Dame game has not been confirmed for 2026 just yet, which could be an interesting twist. If the Cardinal replaced a game against the Irish with nearly any other program in college football, they may have better odds of winning that game, given that Notre Dame is routinely in play for the College Football Playoff.

In addition to facing San Jose State in 2028 and in 2031, the Cardinal will host the Spartans in 2034 and 2036 while heading to San Jose in 2035. Once a yearly matchup, the Cardinal and Spartans faced each other pretty much every season through the 2013 season, before the game went on a hiatus.

Returning in 2024, Stanford lost on the road 34-31 to the Spartans before winning the 2025 game 30-29.

Next season will be a tough one for the Cardinal, who will look to prove that they have what it takes to compete for the ACC championship. But if the Cardinal want to find any sort of success in 2025, establishing a core roster will be the top priority, with Pritchard and general manager Andrew Luck expected to hit the ground running on recruiting and transfer portal activity in the coming weeks.