Greg McElroy sees a brutal road ahead for four SEC teams in 2026.
With the league moving to a nine-game conference schedule ahead of the season and requiring each of its 16 members to add a non-conference opponent from another Power Four league or Notre Dame, the SEC’s already-loaded slates got even tighter. On a recent episode of "Always College Football," the former Alabama quarterback and ESPN analyst picked Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M as the four teams facing the toughest schedules in the conference.
Texas opens with a Sept. 12 trip to Ohio State, and while that game comes after the first week of the season, it still sets the tone for a demanding year. UTSA sits between that matchup and the SEC opener, which gives the Longhorns a little breathing room after a rough start in 2025.
October keeps them inside Texas, but not out of danger, with Oklahoma in Dallas and Ole Miss coming to Austin. The grind really ramps up in November, when Texas goes to Missouri, then LSU, before finishing the regular season at Texas A&M.
Arkansas has its own early gauntlet, and it starts fast. The Razorbacks go to Utah for a late-night kickoff on Sept. 12, then return home to face Georgia on Sept.
- For a first-year SEC head coach, that’s a rough introduction.
After a trip to Texas A&M on Oct. 3, the schedule eases a bit in the middle, but the final stretch looks nasty again. Arkansas closes the regular season at Texas in the penultimate game, then gets LSU in the Battle of the Golden Boot in the final week for the first time in 13 years.
Oklahoma’s non-conference slate may be the toughest of any SEC team, even with Texas drawing the headline opponent in Ohio State. The Sooners have to travel to Michigan, then come home to New Mexico, which is coming off a nine-win season and returns much of its best talent from 2025. Once conference play begins, the road only gets rougher: Oklahoma opens SEC play at Georgia, meets Texas in the Red River Shootout two weeks later, and closes October with a trip to Florida before home games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
Texas A&M’s schedule doesn’t have the same non-conference punch as the others, but the road slate makes up for it. The Aggies’ marquee non-league game is a home date with Arizona State on Sept. 12, a much lighter lift than road trips to Utah or Michigan or an early test against Ohio State.
The real challenge comes away from home in SEC play. Tiger Stadium had long been a problem for Texas A&M until 2025, and the Aggies’ last win in Bryant-Denny Stadium came with Johnny Manziel at quarterback in 2012.
They have also dropped their last two games in Williams-Brice Stadium. At home, the conference schedule builds gradually, starting with Kentucky before ending with Texas, a team Texas A&M has not played within single digits over the last two seasons.
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