These College Soccer Groups Have Mild Journey Schedules Early In 2026

Michigan has six of first seven at dwelling

Kyle Whittingham’s first season in Ann Arbor begins with all 4 September games on the Big House. Michigan is dispensing $3.4 million in ensures to UTEP and Western Michigan for a part of that pleasure. The first of 4 highway video games is lower than a two-hour flight away at Minnesota on October 3, and the Wolverines have a bye the next week. Penn State and Indiana then go to the second and third Saturdays of October to make it six dwelling video games and a bye within the first eight weeks. For the report, two of Michigan’s closing three video games are on the highway and will ooze with playoff implications: at Oregon and the annual showdown with Ohio State in Columbus.

TCU has 9 video games in Lone Star State

The Horned Frogs don’t precisely have a “gentle” travel schedule to open the season. Far from it, in fact. A nine-hour flight out of DFW is nothing to look forward to as they fly to Dublin to play North Carolina in the Aer Lingus Classic on August 29. However, Sonny Dykes’ team has a favorable travel schedule thereafter. A bye Labor Day weekend to recuperate is followed by a pair of home games. TCU then closes September with its Big 12 opener in Orlando against UCF for the only other trip outside the Lone Star State until the first weekend of November. That trip takes the Frogs to Tucson for a Friday evening game with Arizona for their second and final domestic encounter outside the Texas borders. Other road games are at Baylor and Texas Tech.

Texas leaves central time zone once

Seven teams visit Austin in 2026, including Ohio State in what will be a heavyweight encounter September 12. In addition, Steve Sarkisian’s squad will not travel outside the state for the annual clash with Oklahoma in Big D and a Thanksgiving weekend date with Texas A&M in College Station. Hence, the Longhorns leave the state only three times in 2026 and only one of those games, at Tennessee on September 26, will take them beyond the central time zone. In fact, the date with Vols marks the only matchup in the season’s first two months (eight games) that the Hook ’Ems leave Texas.

November is a different story when UT has three of its four true road games, including at Missouri and at LSU the first two weeks of the month before the aforementioned regular season finale in Aggieland.

UTSA does not leave state until October 24

Like the Longhorns, the Roadrunners leave Texas only three times and the central time zone once in 2026. In fact, Jeff Traylor’s team does not leave the state until its eighth game, and that is only a 500-mile flight to New Orleans to meet Tulane on October 24. True, three of the first seven are on the road, though a 200-mile trip to Houston to play Rice is the farthest. The only time UTSA leaves the central time zone is a trip to Florida to meet FAU on a Thursday evening, November 5. That follows the game against the Green Wave making for consecutive American Conference road dates, though with a bye in between.

West Virginia has one true road game in first seven weeks

Mountaineers’ fans will not have to take the country roads out of town much during the first half of Rich Rodriguez’s second season back in Morgantown. After all, there is only one true road game among the first seven on a schedule that additionally contains 5 matchups at Mountaineer Field, one thing that may support in returning to the postseason following a 4-8 displaying in 2025. The solely true highway date is at Iowa State on October 3, which takes place two weeks after WVU faces Virginia in Charlotte on September 19. It would be the first assembly between the Mountaineers and Cavaliers for the reason that 2002 Continental Tire Bowl (48-22 Virginia), which was additionally in Charlotte. It would be the first common season matchup since 1985 (27-7 WVU) when Don Nehlen and George Welsh have been on the respective sidelines on a November afternoon in Charlottesville.