Pac-12 Announces 2026 CFB Schedule for Rebuilt League, Includes 'Flex' Rematch

The Pac-12 is back with a new look and a new scheduling format.

The conference released its 2026 football schedule Wednesday, and it features each of its eight teams playing a seven-game round-robin league schedule. Those games will determine the conference standings and, as Chris Vannini and Scott Dochterman of The Athletic noted, the final week of the conference slate will be a "flex" rematch contest.

Opponents will be determined "based on interests of the league, such as College Football Playoff or bowl considerations," even though that final league game will not count toward the conference standings.

It should be noted the two teams playing in the conference championship game will be known before the "flex" week. That championship game will be on Friday, Dec. 4, at the home stadium of the better seed.

The Pac-12 certainly looks different than it used to before conference realignment shook the league at its core.

Oregon, USC, Washington and UCLA are now in the Big Ten, Cal and Stanford are now in the ACC, and Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado are now in the Big 12. Washington State and Oregon State are the two holdovers from the previous form.

The rebuilt league will have an early opportunity to announce its presence in the college football landscape with a number of notable nonconference games.

Boise State plays Oregon, Colorado State plays BYU, Fresno State plays USC, Oregon State plays Texas Tech, Texas State plays Texas, Utah State plays Washington and Utah, and Washington State plays Washington and Kansas State.

But all eyes will be on the flex games at the end of the schedule as well.

That will give the league an opportunity to bolster the resume of a College Football Playoff contender or perhaps set up a team on the fringe of bowl eligibility with a needed sixth victory. It also wouldn't be surprising if the power conferences pay attention to how it unfolds and perhaps look to institute their own forms of that practice down the line.

It will be a fascinating development throughout the 2026 campaign and could be something of a blueprint for other conferences in the future.