Most Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football teams have their non-conference schedules set for the 2026 season, but over 35 still need at least one game or have not revealed their final opponents.
Conference realignment continues to throw a wrench into future football scheduling. Next season, nine FBS teams are slated to change conferences, which includes five Mountain West programs — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State — and one Sun Belt team — Texas State — joining the rebuilding Pac-12.
Those moves will bring the Pac-12 up to eight teams next season, which also makes a seven-game conference schedule very likely. That would mean each league team would need five non-conference games.
Other realignment moves include Northern Illinois transferring from the MAC to the Mountain West and UTEP shifting from Conference USA to the Mountain West. Louisiana Tech is also slated to move from Conference USA to the Sun Belt no later than July 1, 2027.
Another factor affecting future scheduling is the change in conference formats. Last month, the SEC announced it will move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026. The ACC followed that up with a move to nine games as well, but that shift may not occur until the 2027 season. Should the ACC opt to play nine conference games in 2026, that would cause more chaos as around 13 league teams would need to drop a game.
Below are the teams that currently have non-conference openings in 2026, or their final opponent or opponents have not been officially announced. Please note that all schedules are tentative and subject to change until officially announced by the teams or conferences (updates to the list are noted at the bottom).
ONE NON-CONFERENCE OPENING
USC TROJANS
• 09/05 – Fresno State
• 09/12 – Louisiana
• USC will not play Notre Dame in 2026. The Trojans’ announced that their third and final non-conference game will be at home in Week Zero, which likely means it will be a team that plays in Hawaii.
UNKNOWN NON-CONFERENCE OPENINGS
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON
• 08/29 – at UIW
• 09/05 – ETSU
• 09/12 – at Central Arkansas
• 09/19 – Austin Peay
• NDSU is moving up from FCS and already had four non-conference games scheduled. It is not known which of these games, if any, will remain on their schedule.
SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS
• 09/05 – Mississippi Valley State
• 09/12 – at Fresno State
• 09/19 – Youngstown State
• 09/26 – at UTRGV
• 10/10 – at North Alabama
• 11/07 – at Maine
• 11/14 – Tarleton State
• 11/21 – Southern Utah
• Sacramento State is moving up from FCS and already had eight games scheduled. It is not known which of these games, if any, will remain on their schedule.
UPDATES
• Feb. 19, 2026 (Removed Jacksonville State and Ohio)
• Feb. 17, 2026 (Removed all Pac-12 teams)
• Feb. 10, 2026 (Removed FIU)
• Feb. 2, 2026 (Removed Southern Miss and UConn)
• Jan. 30, 2026 (Removed Kent State and USF)
• Jan. 28, 2026 (Added Ohio; moved Kent State to needs one game instead of two)
• Jan. 22, 2026 (Removed Florida Atlantic and San Jose State; moved Jax State to needs one game instead of two)
• Jan. 20, 2026 (Removed Marshall)
• Jan. 15, 2026 (Removed Georgia State, Memphis, NIU, and UNLV)
• Jan. 14, 2026 (Removed Virginia Tech from Overscheduled; moved San Diego State to needs one game instead of two)
• Jan. 5, 2026 (Removed Temple; removed Syracuse from Overscheduled)
• Dec. 22, 2025 (Added USC; removed BYU)
• Dec. 18, 2025 (Removed UTEP; moved Oregon State to needs one game instead of two)
• Dec. 17, 2025 (Added BYU; removed Cal)
• Dec. 16, 2025 (Added UConn)
• Dec. 16, 2025 (Added Cal, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech to Overscheduled)
• Dec. 16, 2025 (Removed Army, Louisiana, Miami FL, and Wake Forest)
• Dec. 15, 2025 (Removed Louisiana Tech)
• Dec. 12, 2025 (Added Louisiana and Southern Miss)
• Dec. 11, 2025 (Removed LSU, Texas A&M, and USC)
• Dec. 10, 2025 (Removed Ole Miss)
• Dec. 9, 2025 (Removed Pitt)
• Dec. 8, 2025 (Removed South Carolina)
• Dec. 5, 2025 (Pitt now has two openings)
• Dec. 4, 2025 (Added Marshall)
• Dec. 2, 2025 (Removed Ohio)
• Dec. 2, 2025 (Added USF)
• Dec. 1, 2025 (Removed Florida State and New Mexico State)
• Nov. 13, 2025 (Removed Illinois, TCU, and UAB)
• Nov. 7, 2025 (Removed Boston College and Notre Dame; added Florida State)
• Nov. 6, 2025 (Added Texas A&M)
• Nov. 4, 2025 (Removed WKU)
• Oct. 31, 2025 (Utah State added a home game vs. Troy. The Aggies now have only one non-conference opening.)
• Oct. 28, 2025 (Removed UTSA)
• Oct. 21, 2025 (Georgia State added a road game vs. UCF. The Panthers now have only one non-conference opening.)
REMOVED FROM ABOVE LISTINGS
• OHIO – added Jacksonville State at home (source)
• JACKSONVILLE STATE – added Ohio away (source)
• FIU – added LIU at home (source)
• SOUTHERN MISS – added UConn at home (source)
• UCONN – added Southern Miss away (source)
• KENT STATE – added USF away (source)
• USF – added Kent State at home (source)
• SAN JOSE STATE – added Jax State at home (source)
• FLORIDA ATLANTIC – added Texas Southern at home (source)
• MARSHALL – added Gardner-Webb at home (source)
• GEORGIA STATE – added NIU away (source)
• MEMPHIS – added UNLV at home (source)
• NIU – added Georgia State away (source)
• UNLV – added Memphis at home (source)
• TEMPLE – added Toledo away (source)
• BYU – added Notre Dame (source)
• UTEP – added Oregon State (source)
• CALIFORNIA – canceled BYU (source)
• WAKE FOREST – added Merrimack (source)
• STANFORD – dropped SJSU, added Elon at home (source)
• ARMY – added Bryant (source)
• LOUISIANA – added Charlotte away (source)
• LOUISIANA TECH – added Baylor away, Army at home (source)
• LSU – added LA Tech at home (source)
• Texas A&M – added The Citadel at home (source)
• USC – added Louisiana at home (source)
• OLE MISS – added Louisville in Nashville (source)
• PITT – added Bucknell at home (source)
• SOUTH CAROLINA – added Kent State at home (source)
• UTSA – added UTRGV at home (source)
• WKU – added Mercyhurst (source)
• BOSTON COLLEGE – added Notre Dame (source)
• NOTRE DAME – added BC and Stanford at home, neutral vs. USC; removed FSU (source)
• TCU – added Grambling at home (source)
• ILLINOIS – added UAB at home (source)
• UAB – added Illinois away (source)
• FLORIDA STATE – added NM State at home (source)
• NEW MEXICO STATE – added FSU away (source)
• OHIO – added Wofford at home (source)
This is what makes this site great. Good work and lots of information to take in…
I believe Georgia State will host Temple in 2026.
Less than 12 months to the start of the 2026 season, and Notre Dame only has four home games scheduled? Surely they have at least one lined up that has not yet been announced. Maybe it’s a team that can’t announce yet because they have to finalize a schedule change before announcing a game at Notre Dame. Or, and most likely, it’s just Stanford.
What are you reading? List above clearly shows ND has ELEVEN games scheduled and needs to add ONE more game. (As I understand it the ND@USC 2026 game is already contracted).
Hawk, he said Notre Dame has only 4 “home” games scheduled!
Oops. Thanks for the heads up Hawaii Dave. Apologies M.
@USC / @FlaSt / @NC / @Purd /
@Wisc (GB) / @Navy (Boston) /
MiaFL / Syr / SMU / Mich St / Rice
Four road games, two “neutral” games, and five home games.
Besides ND@USC, Stanford@ND may happen in 2026.
Previously postponed 2020 Wisconsin (GB) game was moved to 2026 (the 2021 Wisc@ND game was in Chicago).
2026 Louisville@ND game was canceled and replaced with MiamiFL@ND. (strangely no Shamrock game this season).
With all four P4’s going to 9-game conf schedules, scheduling flexibility as an independent will only become more difficult. And then add in the Shamrock “neutral” game.
Didn’t ND sign a contract to play Clemson every year? There are only 4 ACC schools listed for 2026, and need one more ACC school. Surprised to see 4 B1G schools on the schedule.
Clemson and Notre Dame agreed to play for 12 seasons beginning in 2027, but the contract has not been signed yet.
https://fbschedules.com/clemson-notre-dame-schedule-12-game-football-series-beginning-in-2027/
The Wisconsin game at Lambeau Field is a home game for Notre Dame (per the contract).
Aware of that. What does it have to do with this post?
Potential solutions:
Stanford vs USC
Merrimack vs Stanford
West Georgia vs UNLV
Notre Dame vs LSU
New Mexico State vs UTEP
Western KY vs FAU
*Army vs Memphis (in a similar way to NC State and Virginia being non conference this year)
Sacramento State vs Kent State
Kent State vs Fresno State
Kent State vs NIU
SDSU vs Ohio
Georgia State vs FIU
SDSU vs Georgia State
Jax State vs Utah State
FCS vs Illinois
The SEC learned a long time ago as to who, when, and where you schedule a non conference game, you have an advantage.
The Pac-12 could play 8 conference games by doubling up on the following match-ups each year:
Boise State-Utah State
Colorado State-Texas State
Fresno State-San Diego State
Oregon State-Washington State
The second game of each series would be played on Thanksgiving weekend.
There is nothing appealing about any of those matchups, but it would not be fair if the first and second place teams play twice and then, for example, 3 and 8. That can cost bowl games to change and if there were a three-way tie for first, the 3 could leapfrog to the top spot if they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over the winner in an unfair manner.
@Z-Man
Stanford vs USC
Merrimack vs Stanford
Sacramento State vs UNLV
Notre Dame vs LSU
New Mexico State vs UTEP
Western KY vs FAU
*Army vs Memphis (in a similar way to NC State and Virginia being non conference this year)
Cal Poly vs Kent State
Kent State vs Fresno State
Kent State vs NIU
SDSU vs Ohio
Georgia State vs FIU
SDSU vs Georgia State
Jax State vs Utah State
FCS vs Illinois
Any teams using the Hawai’i or overseas exception for a game 13?
Not yet, but it has become rare so I don’t take it into account.
Probably less likely next year when we are back to a 13-week regular season.
I’m a bit surprised it wasn’t used more in 2024 and/or 2025 with the extra week.
Oh my, what is Mississippi State going to do! Unfortunately, they can’t drop the game at Minnesota (like any SEC team would do in a heartbeat as they prefer no true OOC road games). There’s no way they drop an automatic FCS win against Tennessee Tech. That leaves ULM and Troy as the only options. Which team are they more afraid to play?
Troy. They’re sometimes a juggernaut. Troy should go play USC, for a “Battle of Trojans”, a true sausage festival!
Mississippi State is overscheduled practically every season.
Temple at BC seems to make a lot of sense. BC can return the game at a future date.
USC should extend an olive branch and host one of their old Pac 10 rivals in Wazzu or Oregon State.
Illinois at Notre Dame would be a great game for both programs.
Is USC-Notre Dame scheduled or not? I thought it was and it looks like it is per your reporting. I’m not huge on teams having to play teams–for example, I don’t think Tennessee-Alabama has to be played each year.
But the one exception is USC-Notre Dame, the first intercontinental game. Don’t they have to keep this going? I won’t cry if they don’t, but it would be a bit sad,
Unfortunately, history doesn’t seem as important as it once was.
Kevin–this is fantastic work on your part.
USC had the 2026 game listed on its website, but recently removed it. Apparently the game was never officially contracted. I have no idea if the game will be played or not.
Ohio needs a home game! Hoping for one of the PAC-12, MWC or P4 team willing to come to Athens in a 2-1 deal or maybe just a one off!
Stanford-Notre Dame seems like it should happen as well as USC-Notre Dame. Stanford could also play San Diego State or even Oregon State or Washington Station. The whole Pac-12 situation is really gumming up the works but could lead to some interesting non-conference scheduling. New Mexico State feels destined to play one of the SEC schools. Temple at Boston College feels like a natural as well.
UConns game vs Duke was an away game, the return game for the game at UConn this year. Also per UConn they are hosting ODU at home
It is very weird to me that every (future) Pac-12 school has at least one opening next season. None of them seem to have publicly acknowledged that the conference will only have eight teams, and thus can only play a seven game schedule. The solution of having teams play twice in conference play in the regular season doesn’t seem like a good one, as it can lead to very unbalanced conference schedules.