228 days until Texas football returns for the 2026 season

Now that the Indiana Hoosiers have won the 2025 national championship, college football enters the long offseason. But in 228 days, Texas will kick off the 2026 season versus the Texas State Bobcats in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. It will be the first game of Steve Sarkisian‘s sixth season leading the Longhorns and the second full season as starter for Arch Manning.

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The Longhorns will look to improve on a 10-3 season that did not end in a College Football Playoff appearance for the first time since 2022. Texas lost to Ohio State, Florida, and Georgia, but won every home and neutral site game during the 2025 season. The Longhorns defeated rivals Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas A&M. Texas also defeated Vanderbilt and Michigan, meaning the Horns were 4-2 against ranked teams in 2025.

Manning will lead the way for the Longhorns offense. During his first full season as starter, he was 248-for-404 for 3163 yards, 26 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He also rushed for 10 scores and even caught a touchdown pass.

He’ll be working with a lot of new faces on the Texas offense, including a new backfield with Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. He’ll have a new target in Cam Coleman to throw to, as well as several new offensive linemen blocking for him. However, he’ll have familiarity with his blindside protector in Trevor Goosby and with key wideouts Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley V.

The Longhorn defense will have Will Muschamp calling things, marking a return to the 40 Acres for the assistant who was Mack Brown‘s head coach in waiting from 2008 to 2010. While standouts like Anthony Hill, Malik Muhammad, and Michael Taaffe are gone, the Longhorns will have Colin Simmons, Hero Kanu, Jelani McDonald, and several strong transfer portal additions like Rasheem Biles and Bo Mascoe at their disposal.

The season will be Texas’ 125th playing football and third as members of the SEC. Texas is 920-388-32 all time, good for fourth in wins behind Alabama, Michigan, and Penn State. It will be the first time the SEC will feature nine conference games, too. Before Texas starts SEC play, the Ohio State Buckeyes will travel to Texas for the first time since 2006 with the Longhorns looking to snap a two-game losing streak to OSU. That week two game is sandwiched between non-conference matchups with Texas State and UTSA.

Texas will face Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, LSU, Arkansas, and Texas A&M in 2026. Texas’ matchup with the Volunteers will be the first meeting between the two programs since the Cotton Bowl following the 1968 season. Texas and LSU have played multiple times this century, most recently in 2019. But the Longhorns haven’t been to Baton Rouge since 1953 and will look to notch their first win in Tiger Stadium since 1952.

Texas will seek its first ever SEC championship and also its first national championship since 2005. At two decades without a national title and 15 years since even playing for it all, Texas hopes to advance past the Final Four of college football and reach the final game of the year for the first time under the College Football Playoff format.

228 days seems like a long time, and it is. Prior to kickoff, Texas will have to complete its work in the transfer portal, go through winter conditioning, finish 15 spring practices, and traverse summer workouts and preseason camp. The offseason has been nothing short of eventful in recent years, with realignment, playoff expansion, SEC intrigue, and, of course, recruiting taking center stage at various points.

But kickoff will be here before you know it.

228 days, and the clock is ticking.