The Pac-12 has now expanded as far eastward as San Marcos, TX.
The conference resurrected from the makeshift 2-team Oregon State/Washington State pairing to a full 8-team league for the 2026 season, restoring the FBS to 10 complete conferences. The eighth and final member to meet the 8-team minimum the league needed was Texas State, which announced its entry in late June of 2025.
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The Bobcats depart the Sun Belt after a 13-year stint. Although it took the program over a decade to settle into the FBS, they’ve seen recent successes under head coach GJ Kinne, earning three-straight winning seasons and three-straight bowl games (their first three bowl wins in program history). Now Texas State aims to leverage that newfound success into the Pac-12, and it now knows the pathway it must traverse next fall. The Pac-12 released its schedule earlier in the week, and here’s what the Bobcats have on the docket in 2026:
2026 Texas State schedule
|
Week |
Date |
Opponent |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Sat, Sept. 5 |
at Texas* |
Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium — Austin, TX |
|
2 |
Sat, Sept. 12 |
vs. UTSA* |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
3 |
Sat, Sept. 19 |
vs. North Texas* |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
4 |
Sat, Sept. 26 |
vs. Incarnate Word (FCS)* |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
5 |
Sat, Oct. 3 |
at San Diego State |
Snapdragon Stadium — San Diego, CA |
|
6 |
Sat, Oct. 10 |
BYE |
|
|
7 |
Sat, Oct. 17** |
vs. Colorado State |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
8 |
Sat, Oct. 24 |
vs. Utah State |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
9 |
Sat, Oct. 31 |
at Boise State |
Albertsons Stadium — Boise, ID |
|
10 |
Sat, Nov. 7 |
at Oregon State |
Reser Stadium — Corvallis, OR |
|
11 |
Sat, Nov. 14 |
vs. Fresno State |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
12 |
Sat, Nov. 21 |
vs. Washington State |
UFCU Stadium — San Marcos, TX |
|
13 |
Sat, Nov. 28 |
FLEX GAME |
TBD — Road Game |
|
14 |
Fri, Dec. 4 |
Pac-12 Championship Game |
TBD — Campus Site of Best Conference Record |
* denotes non-conference game
** can possibly be flexed to Thursday, Oct. 15
What is the Week 13 flex game?
All eight Pac-12 teams have something called a “flex game” in Week 13, the final week of the regular season. It’s a brand new concept to college football which no conference has implemented before. Essentially, the Pac-12 uses a round-robin format for conference play where each team plays its seven other conference opponents. The eighth conference game will be determined at a later date, and the league can strategically schedule this game to assist its teams entry into the College Football Playoff.
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For example, if Texas State is in control of its own destiny as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions as of Week 13, the Pac-12 could schedule a highly-winnable game for the Bobcats. Conversely, let’s say Texas State is ranked two spots under an American Conference frontrunner and needs a résumé boosting victory — the Pac-12 could also utilize the flex game to its advantage in that manner. The Pac-12 announced the flex games will be finalized at least six days prior to kickoff, which is a hard deadline of Sunday, Nov. 22.
Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and Washington State will serve as hosts of the Week 13 flex games in year one under this scheduling model. The Pac-12 released four projected flex games, although they are subject to change. One of those projections involved Texas State visiting Colorado State in Week 13 — a rematch of the Week 7 matchup in San Marcos.
Schedule notes and trivia
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The Pac-12 Championship Game is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4. Unlike the Pac-12 Championship Game from 2014-21, this coming year’s edition will not be at a neutral-site. Instead, the contest will be hosted at the campus site of the highest-ranked team in the conference standings. The game will kick off on Friday, Dec. 4 on CBS. The only other confirmed Friday night championship game at the moment is the Big 12, but the American, Conference USA Mountain West, and Sun Belt all hosted Friday night title games in 2025.
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All 12 of Texas State’s regular season games are currently slated for Saturday. The Week 7 game vs. Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 17 can potentially be flexed to Thursday, Oct. 15.
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Texas State does not leave the state of Texas until October. The Bobcats open with a road non-conference matchup at Texas and host three-straight non-conference matchups vs. Texas-based teams in San Marcos — vs. American Conference opponents UTSA and North Texas, as well as FCS opponent Incarnate Word.
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The I-35 Rivalry between Texas State and UTSA continues for the fourth-straight year and for the eighth time in history. The Roadrunners won the first five meetings from 2012-23, but the Bobcats ride a two-game win streak heading into the Sept. 12 meeting in San Marcos.
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Texas State will face six of the other seven Pac-12 opponents for the first time ever in 2026 — San Diego State, Colorado State, Boise State, Oregon State, Fresno State, and Washington State. The Bobcats had one previous encounter with Utah State during their inaugural FBS season in 2012, where the Aggies won 38-7.
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Texas State’s easternmost game in 2026 is at Texas in Week 1. Austin is located at 97.7 degrees west. Texas State will play eight games in the Central Time Zone (seven at home), two games in the Pacific Time Zone, one game in the Mountain Time Zone, and one TBD.
