New-look Pac-12 Conference Features Flex Schedule for Week 13 College Football Games

The Pac-12 Conference will begin play in the 2026 college football season with a revamped lineup of teams, as well as a new take on regular season scheduling.

In its “After Dark” schedule release on February 11, the Pac-12 unveiled several scheduling features for the 2026 college football season that include a four-game non-conference schedule, round-robin play among the eight conference schools and, most notably, a flex schedule for Week 13 that will not be unveiled until Week 12 games are completed.

Announcing the 2026 Pac-12 football schedule the best way we know how... #Pac12AfterDark style! 😎

LET'S GO!!! 🏈⏳#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/5UWfpwLhzd
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) February 12, 2026

In order to build its new football conference, the Pac-12 purged the Mountain West Conference, bringing over Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to join Oregon State and Washington State as well as Texas State from the Sun Belt Conference to make up the eight-team league. Gonzaga will also be a full-time member of the Pac-12 starting in the 2026-2027 academic year, but does not field a football team.

While a round robin style regular season schedule makes sense considering the size of the conference, the flex scheduling for the final weekend of the regular season is unconventional. The Pac-12 did announce tentative matchups for Week 13 that feature Oregon State at Washington State, Boise State at Utah State, San Diego State at Fresno State and Texas State at Colorado State, but reserves the right to change those matchups.

Teresa Gould has been the commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference since March, 2024. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In its press release accompanying the schedule reveal, the Conference clarified its intentions behind having flexibility with the final week of the regular season:

“For 2026 and the league’s home-and-home flex matchup to conclude the regular season in Week 13, the Pac-12 will retain the right to adjust matchups based on the best interests of the league, including College Football Playoff (CFP) considerations at that time.”

After losing 10 of its 12 conference members to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC Conferences, respectively, the Pac-12 operated with just two college football programs for the 2025 season: Oregon State and Washington State.

Prior to the 2024 exodus, the Pac-12 had seen relatively stable membership compared to the other Power Five conferences. The Conference was the Pac-10 from 1978-2011 before it added Colorado and Utah as its 11th and 12th members to become the Pac-12 Conference.

Oregon State and Washington State are the only holdover members from the old Pac-12 Conference. | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

Following the loss of ten schools in 2024, the Pac-12 was demoted from the ranks of Power Conferences, which means its annual champion does not receive an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff unless that team is ranked higher than all the other conference champions from the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference.

In order to reclaim its place among the Football Bowl Subdivision’s elite, the Pac-12 will have to prove that it can compete consistently on the level with the current Power 4 Conferences, and that means having success in the postseason, particularly in the College Football Playoff. The Week 13 flex schedule is the Conference’s attempt to give itself the best shot at Playoff success.