On3's Chris Low Evaluates 2026 College Football Schedules

Highlights and lowlights from On3's Chris Low's look at College Football (CFB) 2026 schedules.

Chris Low's introductory sentence to this article is spot on: "We all know that schedules aren't created equal, even within the same [mega] conference."

Toughest Schedule - Ohio State - Six teams in every P4 conference in 2025 finished with five or fewer wins. Only one of the Big Ten's six 2025 basement dwellers, Maryland, is on the schedule.

The Week 2 game at Texas, with a 7:30 PM Eastern kickoff, is on paper 2026's premiere out-of-conference (OOC) game.

Oklahoma is at Michigan in Week 2 with a Noon Eastern (🤬) kickoff.

Easiest Schedule - Texas Tech - Tech does not play BYU or Utah. Houston, Arizona, ASU, and TCU visit Lubbock. The Red Raiders 'toughest" OOC game is a Week 2 matchup against New World Oregon State, not in San Salvador, Greenland, or Plymouth, Massachusetts, but in Corvallis.

Penn State is the easiest schedule runner-up. PSU does not play Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, or Oregon, and plays USC in Happy Valley. 2025 B1G basement dwellers Wisconsin, Purdue, Rutgers, and Maryland are on the schedule.

Georgia, and it's about time, has the easiest SEC schedule. But nine SEC games and a season-ender vs. Georgia Tech is far from easy.

Easiest Out of Conference Schedule - Nebraska - Ohio University, Bowling Green, and FCS North Dakota visit Lincoln. Good for Matt Ruhle, who is 0-8 at Nebraska against ranked teams.

Indiana is a close OOC no sweat schedule runner-up - North Texas with zero starters back, Howie, er, Howard, and Western Kentucky all visit Bloomington.

Indiana's next OOC game vs. a P4 opponent is Notre Dame in 2030; however, both teams are considering canceling the home-and-home series.

Hardest Out of Conference - Georgia Tech - Colorado, Tennessee, and at Georgia. Thank you, Mr. AD.

Boise State at Oregon in Week 1 is on the 'Better Watch Out' list. I'd add OBD's game at Oklahoma State in Week 2 to this list. All of the starters not returning for North Texas are suiting up for the Cowboys, with the game kicking off at 9 AM Pacific.

Toughest Home Slate - USC has OBD, UW, and Ohio State coming to LA. LSU is second with home games vs. Clemson, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Texas.

Toughest Away Schedule - Texas plays Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, and Alabama on the road and Oklahoma in Dallas.

Easiest Away Schedule - Notre Dame. And this is with an October 17th game at BYU, the only P4 road opponent with more than five wins in 2025.

Somehow, Notre Dame managed to schedule three Big Ten 2025 basement dwellers, Wisconsin in Green Bay, at Purdue, and Michigan State in South Bend.

Give Me a Break! - BYU plays nine straight P4 opponents without an Off Week, and Oregon, Oklahoma, and Texas play eight straight P4 games.

Toughest Close - Texas A+M is at Alabama, Off Week, at South Carolina, Tennessee, at Oklahoma, Texas. With a week off after the visit to Bama, why is this included in the Aggies' stretch run?

Sorry, but factoring in the travel, I'll go with Oregon at Ohio State, Michigan in Eugene, at Michigan State with a Friday 8 PM Eastern kickoff on November 20th, then home against Washington on November 28th.

Then a possible conference championship game on December 5th in Indianapolis, the 3rd trip to the East Coast in five weeks. Mercy!

Play Ball!

On3