The 2026 Big 12 football schedule unveiled Wednesday was based on a matrix created in 2023 and a handful of matchups announced last year. As a result, there were no jaw droppers.
We knew Texas Tech would not play Utah.
We knew Notre Dame would visit BYU (after the cancellation of its rivalry with USC).
We knew TCU would face North Carolina in Dublin on Week 0 and that Arizona State would play Kansas in London on Week 3.
One mild surprise did surface, however: The Big 12 title game is moving off its longtime spot at 9 a.m. (Pacific) on Championship Saturday and will be played on Friday evening instead (Dec. 4).
The move isn't unprecedented in major college football. For years, the Pac-12 championship game was on Friday night in order to avoid getting squeezed into irrelevance on Saturday by the Big Ten and SEC editions.
Nor is the change permanent. The Big 12 title game will alternate between Friday and Saturday in future years, according to the conference.
But beyond the logistics, shifting away from clutter and into open space tracks with a three-word scheduling strategy deployed by the Big 12 and its network partners (ESPN and Fox): Follow the eyeballs.
Or as commissioner Brett Yormark told the Hotline a few months ago: "My job is to create more value, to amplify the schools in an effort to make them more national."
Lacking the sport's biggest brands, the conference must occasionally zig when the Big Ten and SEC zag.
That's why Yormark pushed for ESPN's "College GameDay" to broadcast from a Big 12 campus after a multi-year absence.
That's why he secured sub-licensing agreements for Big 12 football and men's basketball games on TNT.
That's why the Big 12 has expanded its overseas football presence with the Dublin and London games.
Yormark's amplification efforts with the conference schedule are more challenging given Colorado's on-field regression. With quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter playing for coach Deion Sanders, the Buffaloes drew at least 3 million viewers on 10 occasions during the 2024 season, according to data on SportsMediaWatch.com.
But last fall, with the star players off to the NFL, the Buffaloes slumped. So, too, did their ratings: Only one CU game drew 3 million viewers.
Absent its one and only ratings machine, the Big 12 has fewer opportunities to command the spotlight.
Scheduling Arizona-BYU in Week 2, when nonconference matchups are typically played, is an attempt to place some of the Big 12's premier inventory in an optimal viewership window.
That goes for Houston-Texas Tech in Week 3, as well.
For the same reason, a bevy of conference matchups will be moved to Friday nights. (Those changes will be announced in the spring.)
That strategy also explains why the Big 12 spread its rivalry games across the second half of the season: Baylor-TCU and Kansas-Kansas State are set for Week 7, while BYU-Utah is Week 10.
The approach leaves the Big 12 with a relatively tame schedule on rivalry weekend. But much like moving the championship game, it's a calculated gamble rooted in the never-ending pursuit of exposure.
"If you put all your rivalry games in Thanksgiving weekend, you almost start cannibalizing yourself, as well as competing for eyeballs" with other leagues, a source said.
Once all the Friday matchups are revealed, the Big 12 schedule will look markedly different from its counterparts in the Big Ten and SEC.
And that's entirely by design.
Having completed our 40,000-foot assessment, some thoughts on what lies in the weeds of the 2026 schedule:
— Defending champion Texas Tech does not play runner-up BYU or third-place Utah, an unfortunate state of affairs that traces back to the creation of the schedule matrix in 2023 — long before the Red Raiders climbed the sport's food chain.
Certain combinations of matchups were implemented for four-year cycles, others for three. The 2026 season will mark the end of the three-year cycle.
"It might be time to change it up after this year," a source said.
— One notable difference this year for all FBS conferences:
Because Labor Day falls on the latest possible date, Sept. 7, the regular season features just 13 weeks. As a result, each team has one bye (except TCU, which plays Week 0 in Dublin).
All Big 12 teams will have completed their bye weeks in mid-October except for Houston and West Virginia, which take their breaks Oct. 31.
— Eight teams with normal rest (i.e., one week) will play road games against hosts that have two weeks to prepare thanks to a bye. The group includes BYU, which hosts Notre Dame in Week 7, then visits a well-rested UCF the following Saturday.
Meanwhile, nine teams play back-to-back conference road games (without a bye in between).
— Four teams encounter both back-to-back conference road games and, in separate sequences, face a home team coming off a bye: Baylor, Houston, Kansas and Utah.
Four teams don't face either scenario: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa State and TCU.
And one team draws the shortest straw imaginable: UCF.
The Knights visit Houston in Week 5, then turn around and head to Oklahoma State in Week 6. The Cowboys will have been sitting at home resting for 13 days.
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Jon WilnerJon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP Top 25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree. You can follow him on Twitter @WilnerHotline or send an email at jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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