Paul Finebaum Names Toughest Schedule in College Football

The SEC Network analyst sees a serious scheduling problem for the sport's most hyped national title contender.

Longtime SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum believes this top college football contender out of the SEC has the toughest schedule in 2026. | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

College football know-it-all Paul Finebaum has never been shy about anointing favorites or burying pretenders, and his latest schedule assessment lands squarely on the team most people expect to win it all.

During a recent SEC Network segment ranking the toughest schedules in college football, the longtime analyst pointed at Texas and saw a problem nobody in Austin wants to discuss.

The Longhorns enter 2026 with Arch Manning, a roster Steve Sarkisian calls his deepest yet and a path to the national championship littered with land mines.

Why Finebaum says Texas has the toughest schedule

Finebaum laid out the case for the Longhorns' schedule after two other analysts singled out Oklahoma and Alabama's slates.

"Let's talk about a contender here: Texas. Everybody thinks they could be the national champion. They've got Arch [Manning]. Look at this schedule. Ohio State, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, Ole Miss. I mean at LSU, at A&M. This is one of the trickiest schedules for a contender I have seen," Finebaum said.

Oklahoma
- at Michigan
- at Georgia
- Red River
- Ole Miss

Texas
- Ohio State
- Red River
- at LSU
- at Texas A&M

Who has the toughest schedule next season? 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/LSxoJsCTWP

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) June 11, 2026

The numbers agree with him. ESPN's Bill Connelly's SP+ projects Texas with the toughest 2026 schedule in the nation, featuring eight opponents ranked in the metric's most recent top 25.

Connelly noted the slate includes hosting Ohio State, the projected best team in the country, plus a trip to Tennessee, the Oklahoma rivalry game, home dates with Florida and Ole Miss, road games at Missouri and LSU and a finale at Texas A&M.

The September 26 trip to Neyland Stadium will be the Longhorns' first ever, in a series that has not been played since the 1969 Cotton Bowl.

Texas carries championship expectations into 2026

The schedule conversation matters because the stakes in Austin could not be higher.

Texas finished 10-3 in 2025 and missed the College Football Playoff after opening the season as the consensus preseason No. 1. Sarkisian did not sugarcoat the miss.

"I came here to compete and win championships, and we didn't do that last year," Sarkisian said. "What did we do? Go right back to work."

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian throws up the horns after a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Manning gives the head coach reason for optimism. The second-year starter completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 2025, adding 399 rushing yards and 10 scores. The Longhorns also added dynamo wide receiver transfer Cam Coleman from Auburn

"The biggest thing that I've seen from Arch, fundamentally, he's so much cleaner right now," Sarkisian said. "He's really worked hard at this. That's going to really help from an accuracy standpoint."

A great team with a brutal schedule still controls its destiny, but the margin for a slow start vanished the moment the SEC handed Texas this slate.

The Longhorns open the 2026 season at home against Texas State on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.