Football: TCU releases complete 2026 schedule

You may now set your calendars for weekends this fall. The Big 12 released the 2026 Football schedule on Wednesday, setting the stage for another big season across the league. Following another strong finish to the 2025 campaign, culminating in a thrilling victory over USC in the Alamo Bowl, TCU Football and its fans are looking to take a step forward in 2026 with a new Quarterback and new Offensive Coordinator. Here is what the 2026 schedule looks like for the Horned Frogs:

Week 0: Sat. Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina Tar Heels, Dublin, Ireland
The Horned Frogs again open the season under the spotlight against Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels, this time across the pond at the neutral site Week Zero showcase in Dublin. Both squads have new rosters and new coaches since the Frogs embarrassed the Heels in Chapel Hill in 2025, each looking to open the season on a high note

Week 1: BYE WEEK
TCU will again follow its season opener with a Bye, recovering from its long-haul return trip from Europe and watching the rest of college football kick off the season. While it would typically be less than ideal to have a bye this early in the season ahead of your FCS game, this season everyone only gets a single Bye during the regular season, except for TCU which earns this time off thanks to participation in Week Zero.

Week 2: Sat. Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State Tigers, Fort Worth, TX
Grambling finished the 2025 season 6-6, rated as the No. 81 FCS program per SP+, losing its one FBS game last season 70-0 at Ohio State. The Frogs and Tigers have faced off once before, a 56-0 TCU victory in 2012 when Casey Pachall & Trevone Boykin combined for a perfect 17-17 passing for 276 yards and 4 touchdowns. Here’s hoping 2026 QBs Jaden Craig and Adam Schobel can have a similarly stellar performance.

Week 3: Sat. Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State Red Wolves, Fort Worth, TX
Here it is folks, the first home game replacing the Iron Skillet road contest at SMU on the TCU schedule now that the recurring Metroplex rivalry has been shelved. The Red Wolves had a solid 2025 campaign, finishing 7-6 with a win over Missouri State in the Xbox Bowl. Arkansas State will be without longtime starting QB Jaylen Raynor who transferred to Iowa State, but the Wolves brought in Texas transfer and former four-star Trey Owens to take over behind center. The Horned Frogs own a 2-0 record against Arkansas State, defeating it in both ends of a home-and-home in 1999-2000.

Week 4: Sat. Sept. 26 at UCF Knights, Orlando, FL
In TCU’s first ever trip to the Bounce House, the Horned Frogs will open its 2026 Big 12 slate with revenge on the mind. In the first ever match up between these two, held in Fort Worth in 2024, when the Frogs blew a 21-point 2nd half advantage, giving UCF the win. The Knights are looking to bounce back from a 5-7 in Scott Frost’s first season back in Orlando as head coach, missing a bowl in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004.

Week 5: Sat. Oct. 3 vs. BYU Cougars, Fort Worth, TX
The Cougars have been elite the last two seasons, with strong arguments as the most snubbed team by the CFP Committee each year. Bear Bachmeier returns as QB after an incredible breakout freshman campaign, as does coach Kalani Sitake who remains in Provo despite heavy overtures from other programs. BYU crushed the Frogs in Provo last season, but prior to that TCU had won the five previous matchups. Of note: BYU has a bye week prior to its trip to Fort Worth, so the Cougars will be fully rested ahead this game.

Week 6: BYE WEEK
A very solid, if a bit early, spot to get a break in the schedule. TCU will be coming off one of its more difficult, physical games of the season in the battle with BYU and gets to rest up ahead of the Revivalry road trip to Waco.

Week 7: Sat. Oct. 17 at Baylor Bears, Waco, TX
TCU’s last visit to Baylor was its first loss in Waco in a decade as the Horned Frogs have won nine of the last 11 contests in the heated rivalry after getting back in the win column in 2025. Head coach Dave Aranda returns for his seventh year with the Bears, where he holds a 1-5 record vs. TCU. Baylor brings in highly touted former five-star QB DJ Lagway to take over for Sawyer Robertson with a rebuilt offense that loses star RB Bryson Washington to Auburn and top receivers out of eligibility. Baylor will also be coming off of its bye week headed into this one, so don’t be surprised if this gets bumped to a Friday night showcase.

Week 8: Sat. Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia Mountaineers, Fort Worth, TX
It was another rough season in Morgantown as the ‘Eers went 4-8 in 2025, the first with Rich Rodriguez back as head coach. WVU has a massive roster turnover via the transfer portal as 50 players depart the program and 33 transfers have signed to join the squad. One notable addition is former TCU RB Cam Cook who spent a year at Jacksonville State where he led the NCAA in rushing yards in 2025. WVU always proves a challenge for TCU, producing some of the most dramatic games together as members of the Big 12.

Week 9: Sat. Oct. 31 vs. Kansas Jayhawks, Fort Worth, TX
Although there have been some close calls, TCU has only lost once to the Jayhawks since joining the conference in 2012, thanks to an embarrassing butt-fumble on what should have been the game-winning drive in Lawrence in 2018. The Jayhawks had a tough 2025 campaign, finishing 5-7 (3-6 Big 12) in Jalon Daniels’ final year at QB. KU added dynamic runners to its backfield via the transfer portal, with Syracuse’s Yasin Willis and Kansas State’s Dylan Edwards.

Week 10: Sat. Nov. 7 at Arizona Wildcats, Tucson, AZ
It was a massive bounce-back season for the Wildcats in 2025, finishing 9-4 and 4th in the Big 12 with a 6-3 league record. Arizona was ranked in the AP Top 25 for the final two weeks of the season before dropping out after losing to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. QB Noah Fifita returns for his final year of eligibility after being named First Team All Big 12 in 2025. This will be TCU’s first visit to Tucson as a Big 12 member, last playing the Wildcats on the road in 2003. On paper, this looks to be the start of a very difficult stretch run for the Horned Frogs, likely to define how successful the 2026 season is.

Week 11: Sat. Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State Wildcats, Fort Worth, TX
Next up in the tough sprint to the finish is frequent nemesis KSU, a team that the Horned Frogs have struggled mightily against since joining the conference, posting a 5-9 record during that time, including losses in the last three matchups. K-State retains its hometown hero QB Avery Johnson while welcoming former hero QB and OC Colin Klein back to Manhattan as head coach following Chris Kleiman’s retirement. The ‘Cats lost a ton in the portal, headlined by WR Jayce Brown to LSU and defensive linemen Tobi Osunsanmi & Chiddi Obiazor headed to Indiana.

Week 12: Sat. Nov. 21 vs. Utah Utes, Fort Worth, TX
Utah makes its first trip back to Fort Worth since the epic 2009 battle between the No. 16 Utes and No. 4 Horned Frogs with College GameDay in town, a statement-making 55-28 TCU victory. Kyle Whittingham had to “retire” and move to Michigan to avoid a similar fate, making way for coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley to finally take over as head coach in Salt Lake City. QB Devon Dampier returns for the Utes to lead the offense after guiding his squad to an 11-2 record and ranked No. 14 in the final AP Poll.

Week 13: Sat. Nov. 28 at Texas Tech Red Raiders, Lubbock, TX
The West Texas Championship Battle for the Saddle gets the true Rivalry Week treatment in 2026 after taking a year off. Avoiding the Horned Frogs in 2025 allowed the Red Raiders to finish the season undefeated with a Big 12 Championship and earn the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoffs. TTU has taken the college football world by storm by dazzling prospects with boatloads of cash, building an elite roster in 2025 and looks to be doing the same again in 2026 even as much of that high-performing personnel is moving to the NFL. In its Orange Bowl loss to Oregon, the one deficiency was at Quarterback, but in 2026 the Raiders ponied up big bucks to bring in former Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby to take over from Behren Morton. Sorsby threw for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns in 45-23 loss to TCU in the 2025 season finale.

With the full Big 12 schedule released, which teams have the toughest and easiest paths to the Conference Championship game?