Trap Game or Tune Up? Sizing Up Texas State on Texas' 2026 Schedule

The Texas Longhorns will set their sights on their 2026 season, which will be filled with heavy outside expectations and predictions. The Longhorns missed out on the College Football Playoff for the first time in three seasons a year ago and now look to get back into the postseason.

The Longhorns will be ranked as one of, if not potentially the No. 1 team in the country, headed into the opening week of the 2026 season. And it won't be unexpected as Texas brings back quarterback Arch Manning for his second season as a starter, who will be surrounded by one of the most talented rosters in all of college football.

Texas will look to get its season started filled with lofty expectations on the tight foot, taking on a team from right down the road as the Texas State Bobcats make the trip from San Marcos to Austin for the season opener. The matchup is the first game of the season but how important is it actually to the Longhorns' schedule?

Texas Needs a Good Start to the Season

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning runs with the ball against the Michigan Wolverines. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Longhorns have plenty of challenges throughout the rest of the season and will need to get the year started right by avoiding a disastrous start against the Bobcats. Texas State will be headed to Darrell K. Royal Stadium playing with house money, trying to pull off a shocking upset.

The Bobcats are not a team that the Longhorns should take lightly, as Texas State head coach G.J. Kinne has his program on the rise, building momentum over the last few seasons. In the last three years, the Bobcats have won three straight bowl games and have put together a seven-plus win season for the third consecutive year.

For the Longhorns, this matchup against the Bobcats comes a week before a major clash against the Ohio State Buckeyes, who head into Austin the week after. The Longhorns will finally look to get one back on the Buckeyes, as Ohio State has defeated Steve Sarkisian's squad for the last two years in a row.

Texas will have to avoid looking too far ahead to its heavyweight fight against the Buckeyes as getting ahead of itself is the best way to be upset by the Bobcats in the first week of the season.

The Longhorns get what should be a tune-up game against the Bobcats in week one to work out any kinks and parts of the team that still need to be addressed before facing Ohio State. This is unlike last season, when the Longhorns had to go up to Columbus in week one to face the Buckeyes, where Texas was nowhere near the team it ended the season as.

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