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Kansas Football 2026 Schedule: Full Breakdown and Season Outlook
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- Kansas Football 2026 Schedule: Full Breakdown and Season Outlook
Kansas was supposed to break out last season with a refurbished stadium and an exciting team, but everything broke down late. The 2026 Jayhawk football schedule won't make the rebound easy.
The team should be better, but it'll take a lot of work to push through one of the Big 12's toughest slates.
Kansas Football 2026 Schedule: Full Breakdown and Season Outlook
Nov 8, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Good
There should be a decent base of wins to build off of. The Jayhawks get LIU and Middle Tennessee at home, Baylor and UCF are winnable home games, and while it'll be a fight, getting Mizzou in the Booth will help. However …
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The Bad
Yikes. Not only do the Jayhawks have to face Missouri, but that's followed up by a trip to London to deal with Arizona State. Throw in five Big 12 road games, and the Jayhawks only get three conference home dates.
What Big 12 Teams Kansas Will Miss
Arizona, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Texas Tech. Missing Texas Tech is a huge help, and not playing Arizona and Houston helps, but it would've been nice to miss more of the Big 12 big boys.
Kansas's Best and Worst Case Scenarios in 2026
Best Case: The Jayhawks win the rivalry games
The schedule is too brutal to go on a big run, but again, there are winnable games to hope for a nice group of wins to build off of. The Jayhawks have to go on the road to face Kansas State, but win that, beat Missouri, and the season will be interesting.
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Worst Case: The travel is crushing
Again, not only do the Jayhawks have five Big 12 road games, but they have to travel to England. That's a ton of time on the plane, and the run of three road games in four weeks in the middle of the season, and closing with two road games in the last three, becomes too much to overcome.
Kansas Football 2026 Schedule
Sept 4 LIU
Sept 12 Missouri
Sept 19 Arizona State (in London)
Sept 26 OPEN DATE
Oct 3 Middle Tennessee
Oct 10 at Utah
Oct 17 at Kansas State
Oct 24 Baylor
Oct 31 at TCU
Nov 7 UCF
Nov 14 at West Virginia
Nov 21 BYU
Nov 28 at Oklahoma State
Games That Will Decide Kansas's Season
1. Sept. 19, Arizona State (in London).Kansas will be the underdog no matter what. Maybe the Big 12 opener being played on the other side of the pond will be enough of a differentiating factor to pull off something big.
2. Oct. 17, at Kansas State.It's time to win this thing already after losing 16 in a row. The last win in Manhattan was 2007.
3. Oct. 31, at TCU.Yeah, there are lots of road games, but the last two at West Virginia and Oklahoma State aren't awful. Beat TCU on Halloween, and the finishing kick might not be too bad.
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Related: Kansas State Football 2026 Schedule: Full Breakdown and Season Outlook
This story was originally published by College Football News on Jan 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
