Texas is not going to cancel any of its upcoming marquee non-conference games because the SEC is adding another conference game.
The SEC announced last week that it was moving from eight to nine non-conference games starting in 2026. Additionally, teams will have to play at least one power conference opponent among its three non-conference games. And Texas looks like it’s going to embrace that requirement.
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Athletic director Chris Del Conte told the Austin American-Statesman that Texas has no plans to get out of its upcoming non-conference games with Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. The No. 1 Longhorns visit the No. 3 Buckeyes on Saturday in the biggest game of Week 1.
“The brand of Texas, we owe it to college football to play this type of game,” Del Conte said. “We have Michigan, we have Ohio State, we just scheduled Notre Dame. We had USC, we had LSU and we had a nine-game [conference] schedule in the Big 12. I think with the discussions going around the CFP whether expansion or not, the regular season matters. Are we talking about the NFL opening games right now? No, they’re talking about Texas playing Ohio State, they’re talking about Alabama playing Florida State, Clemson playing LSU. These games really set the tone for college. We’re not shying away from it. We want to preserve college football in the national landscape.
“Us not playing A&M for a long time hurt college football. Nebraska not playing Oklahoma makes no sense to me. We’ve got to have those games, they’re important. Us playing Ohio State, everyone’s talking about it. I’m fired up for the game.”
Texas hosts Ohio State in 2026 before playing Michigan again in 2027 and Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029. If the Longhorns got out of any of those games, they’d need to find another power conference opponent. Texas has three non-conference games scheduled for each season through 2029 and those teams are the only power opponents in the group.
Alabama, meanwhile, has already canceled its series with West Virginia. The two teams were supposed to play in 2026 and 2027 in a home and home that was scheduled when West Virginia native Nick Saban was still Alabama’s coach.
But with other power conference opponents on the Tide’s schedule in 2026 and 2027 — Alabama hosts FSU next year and plays at Ohio State in 2027 — the West Virginia game was expendable.
“We are proud of the number of high-quality home-and-home non-conference games we have scheduled for the next 10 years,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement this week. “That being said, we know that college athletics has been evolving and changing rapidly over the last few years, and it made sense for us to make these adjustments on our future schedules. We have a bit more flexibility as we transition to a nine-game format in the Southeastern Conference, and it gives us the opportunity to further evaluate how strength of schedule is evaluated for the College Football Playoff. Between other home-and-homes as well as conference games, we will continue to have a solid strength of schedule, which is good for our team, fans and college football.”
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