The 2026 Pac-12 Conference football season is the 48th season of Pac-12 Conference football. The season began on September 4, 2026. It is the Pac-12's first season back after a two-year grace period granted by the NCAA due to the departure of 10 schools in 2024. Out of the eight schools participating in the rebuilt conference, six are new additions from the Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences.
Conference realignment and the grace period After the departure of 10 schools in 2024, the Pac-12 consisted of only two football playing schools; Oregon State and Washington State. The NCAA requires FBS conferences to consist of eight football playing schools at minimum, and thusly afforded the Pac-12 a two year period of recognition to reconstruct by 2026.
The two lone Pac-12 teams had to find creative scheduling solutions for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, for they lacked games traditionally played amongst their former conference mates. They began by securing a 6-game scheduling agreement with the Mountain West conference, a one year solution for the 2024 season. A second agreement for the 2025 season was not reached by the deadline of September 2, 2024.
Ten days later, on September 12, 2024, the conference announced football-playing institutions Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State would be joining. These additions brought the Pac-12 football membership to six. 11 days later, on September 23, the conference announced the addition of Utah State University, bringing the football membership to seven. The conference would still need to add one more school.
Failing to reach another scheduling agreement with the Mountain West for the 2025 season, Oregon State and Washington State chose to act as independents. Difficulty finding enough available opponents resulted in the two schools playing each other twice in the season, with the second meeting counting as the only "Pac-2" conference game of the year.
On June 30, 2025, the Pac-12 announced the addition of Texas State University out of the Sun Belt Conference, bringing the football-playing membership back up to the minimum eight football-sponsoring full members needed to be recognized by the NCAA as an FBS conference.
Preseason Recruiting classes Source: +National rankingsTeamESPNRivals24/7Total signeesBoise State57515134Colorado State72737330Fresno State73767024Oregon State -9410016San Diego State -808325Texas State -747422Utah State -1029720Washington State -13013014 Note: ESPN only ranks the top 75 teams.
Preseason media poll This poll was organized by the Denver Gazette.
+ Pac-12 1 Boise State 14 19 2 San Diego State 138 3 Fresno State150 4Texas State063 5 Washington State 077 6 Colorado State 0107 6 Utah State 0107 8 Oregon State 0115
Note: A higher placement pick correlates to less points. Head coaches
Pre-season changes Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell was fired on October 19, 2025, after a homecoming loss to Hawaii with 5 games left in the season. Defensive coordinator Tyson Summers took over as interim head coach for the rest of the season. On November 26, 2025, UConn head coach Jim Mora was hired to take over the head coaching position in 2026.
Oregon State head coach Trent Bray was fired on October 12, 2025, after an 0–7 start to the season. Robb Akey, who was hired as the special assistant to the head coach, and a week prior had taken over special teams after the dismissal of Jamie Christian, was promoted to interim head coach for the rest of the season. On November 28, 2025, Alabama assistant head coach JaMarcus Shepard was hired to take over the head coaching position in 2026.
On December 5, 2025, news broke that Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers would be the next head coach for Iowa State. He had led Washington State to a bowl game with a sixth win in the final game of the regular season against Oregon State, but would not stay to coach the bowl game. Defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit would be promoted to interim head coach for the bowl game, before following Rogers to Iowa State. On December 12, 2025, Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore would be hired to take over the Cougars' head coaching position in 2026.
In-season changes
Post-season changes
Coaches Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2026 season. All records are at Division I schools only Team Head coach Year at school Overall record Record at school Pac-12 record Conference ChampionshipsNational ChampionshipsBoise StateSpencer Danielson424–824–80–000Colorado StateJim L. Mora173–530–00–000Fresno StateMatt Entz269–159–40–000Oregon StateJaMarcus Shephard10–00–00–000San Diego StateSean Lewis336–4412–130–000Texas StateG. J. Kinne435–1823–160–000Utah StateBronco Mendenhall2146–956–70–000Washington StateKirby Moore10–00–00–000
Rankings
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Final Boise State AP RV RV RV RV 22 C RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Colorado State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released Fresno State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released Oregon State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released San Diego State AP — — — — — C RV RV — — — CFP Not released Texas State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released Utah State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released Washington State AP — — — — — C — — — — — CFP Not released
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week No change in ranking from previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
Schedules The schedule was released on February 9, 2026. The season will begin on September 4, 2026, and will end with the Pac-12 Championship Game on December 4, 2026.
Index to colors and formattingPac-12 member wonPac-12 member lostPac-12 teams in bold All times Pacific time.
† denotes Homecoming game
Rankings reflect the AP poll for weeks 1 through 8. Rankings from Week 9 until the end of the Season reflect the College Football Playoff Rankings.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
Week Nine
Week Ten
Week Eleven
Week Twelve
Week Thirteen
Head to head matchups 2026 Pac-12 Head to head matchupsTeamBoise StateColorado StateFresno StateOregon StateSan Diego StateTexas StateUtah StateWashington State vs. Boise State — vs. Colorado State — vs. Fresno State — vs. Oregon State — vs. San Diego State — vs. Texas State — vs. Utah State — vs. Washington State —Total 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0BSUCSUFSUOSUSDSUTXSTUSUWSU Updated after the season.
Pac-12 vs other conferences Pac-12 vs Power Four matchups The following games include Pac-12 teams competing against Power Four teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and Notre Dame. All rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 4 Big Ten Fresno State No. 14t USC Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA L 0–39September 5Big 12 Oregon State No. 23 Houston TDECU Stadium • Houston, TX L 20–33September 5SEC Texas State No. 5 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX L 7–59September 5Big Ten Boise State No. 2 OregonAutzen Stadium • Eugene, OR L 27–34September 6Big Ten Washington State No. 17 Washington Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 10–24September 12Big Ten Utah State No. 19 Washington Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 14–16September 12Big TenSan Diego State UCLARose Bowl • Pasadena, CA L 10–28September 12 Big 12 Washington State Kansas State Bill Snyder Family Stadium • Manhattan, KS L 7–34September 12 Big 12 No. 13 Texas Tech Oregon State Reser Stadium • Corvallis, OR L 24–35September 19Big 12Utah State UtahRice-Eccles Stadium • Salt Lake City, UT L 0–33September 19Big 12 BYU Colorado State Canvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO L 23–41 September 26 Big 12 Arizona Washington State Martin Stadium • Pullman, WA L 24–34
Pac-12 vs Group of Six matchups The following games include Pac-12 teams competing against "Group of Six" teams from the American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 5 Mountain West Wyoming Colorado State Canvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO W 35–13 September 12 American UTSA Texas State UFCU Stadium • San Marcos, TX L 26–31 September 12 American Memphis Boise State Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID W 38–20 September 12 MAC Sacramento State Fresno State Valley Children's Stadium • Fresno, CA W 49–3 September 19 Sun Belt JMU San Diego State Snapdragon Stadium • San Diego, CA L 13–26 September 19 American North Texas Texas State UFCU Stadium • San Marcos, TX W 49–35 September 19 Mountain West Fresno State San Jose State CEFCU Stadium • San Jose, CA W 26–10 September 26 Sun Belt Troy Utah State Maverik Stadium • Logan, UT W 21–10 September 26 MAC Boise State Western Michigan Waldo Stadium • Kalamazoo, MI W 32–7 September 26 MAC San Diego State Toledo Glass Bowl • Toledo, OH L 16–41 September 26 American Colorado State UTSA Alamodome • San Antonio, TX L 45–59 September 26 Mountain West Oregon State UTEP Sun Bowl • El Paso, TX W 33–7 September 26 American Rice Fresno State Valley Children's Stadium • Fresno, CA W 38–24
Pac-12 vs FCS matchups The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs. The following games include Pac-12 teams competing against FCS teams from the Big Sky, Missouri Valley, NEC, and SLC.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 5 Big Sky No. 23 (FCS) Idaho State Utah State Maverik Stadium • Logan, UT L 17–29 September 5 Big Sky Portland State San Diego State Snapdragon Stadium • San Diego, CA W 53–20 September 12 Big Sky Southern Utah Colorado State Canvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO W 58–24 September 19 NEC Duquesne Washington State Martin Stadium • Pullman, WA W 48–7 September 19 MVFC South Dakota Boise State Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID W 38–24 September 19 Big Sky Montana Oregon State Reser Stadium • Corvallis, OR W 52–17 September 26 SLC UIW Texas State UFCU Stadium • San Marcos, TX W 63–10
Record vs. other conferences
Regular Season
Power Four ConferencesRecordACC0–0Big 120–6Big Ten0–5Notre Dame0–0SEC0–1Power 5 Total0–12Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican3–2CUSA0–0Independents 0–0MAC2–1Mountain West3–0Sun Belt1–1Other FBS Total9–4FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision6–1Total Non-Conference Record15–17
Post Season Power 4 ConferencesRecordACC 0–0Big Ten 0–0Big 120–0SEC0–0Power 4 Total0–0Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–0CUSA0–0Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)0–0MAC0–0Mountain West0–0Sun Belt0–0Other FBS Total0–0Total Bowl Record0–0
Home game attendance
TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of CapacityBoise StateAlbertsons Stadium36,387 34,439 34,428 Colorado StateCanvas Stadium36,500 40,546 35,749 38,759 Fresno StateValley Children's Stadium40,727 40,198 39,001 Oregon StateReser Stadium35,548 30,539 34,030 San Diego StateSnapdragon Stadium35,000 26,913 26,487 Texas StateUFCU Stadium28,388 22,019 14,166 23,594 Utah StateMaverik Stadium25,513 20,723 22,037 Washington StateMartin Stadium32,952 28,288 23,903
References