A handful of college football teams can talk about chasing greatness. These five will have to survive it first.
With the 2026 season shaping up to feature punishing conference slates, long road swings and a steady diet of elite opponents, the sport’s toughest schedules are landing on programs that won’t get many soft spots to breathe. Three SEC teams make the cut here, a reflection of the league’s move to nine conference games.
Michigan is in the mix because the home setup is the kind you’d dream about if you’re trying to make a run. The Wolverines have eight games at the Big House, with Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State and Indiana all coming to Ann Arbor.
But the road trips that do exist are brutal in their own way: Oregon on November 14 and Ohio State on November 28. Sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood will be under the microscope all season, and five opponents on the schedule finished in the final AP Top 25.
Ohio State has its own gauntlet waiting. The Buckeyes open with a September 12 trip to Texas, a rematch of last season’s opener that Ohio State won 14-7 in Columbus.
After that, Julian Sayin is staring at road games at Iowa, at defending national champion Indiana and at USC. Ryan Day didn’t try to downplay what’s coming at Big Ten Media Days.
"These environments are going to be really loud," Day said.
Oklahoma’s road is equally unforgiving, and Brent Venables knows it. The Sooners have to deal with three 2025 Playoff teams in Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, while also facing Texas in the Red River Rivalry and making a road trip to Michigan.
Senior quarterback John Mateer is back to lead the offense, and Venables pointed to the challenge of handling outside noise at SEC Media Days. "Where maybe a lot of people didn't pick us or talk highly of us a year ago, going into the season, our ability to overcome that, to block out the noise, to focus on the things that we can control," he said.
Arkansas enters the list with a first-year head coach who’s getting tossed straight into the deep end. Ryan Silverfield, who went 50-25 at Memphis, takes over a schedule packed with ranked opponents.
The Razorbacks go to Utah in September, host Georgia the next week, welcome Tennessee to Fayetteville in October and also have a trip to Texas A&M in the middle of that stretch. The second half doesn’t ease up, either, with Missouri at home, Auburn on the road and LSU in the finale.
Silverfield inherits a strong offense, but the defense struggled badly last season, which leaves very little margin for error.
Texas sits at No. 1 after finishing 9-3 and then beating Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Steve Sarkisian’s team gets tested immediately with Ohio State coming to town on September 12.
The punishment keeps coming after that: a trip to Tennessee, Oklahoma in Dallas, Ole Miss at home, road games at LSU and Texas A&M, and Florida on the schedule as well, after the Gators beat Texas last season. Arch Manning said the opener against Ohio State gave him a valuable lesson.
"Yeah, I learned a lot," he said. "Obviously, gaining that game experience is really good for me, and it was a rough game.
So I'll learn from it and move on to it motivating me for this year." If Texas is going to prove it belongs in the title conversation, this schedule will make sure everyone knows.
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