Conference USA Finalises 2026 Schedule Following Louisiana Tech Departure
Revised fixtures feature eighteen weeknight contests broadcast on ESPN2, ESPNU and CBS Sports Network, with the championship game set for 4 December.
Conference USA has released its final 2026 football schedule, a document issued on Monday, 27 April, following a settlement that permitted Louisiana Tech to depart the league. The Bulldogs have moved to the Sun Belt conference, leaving Conference USA to operate with ten member institutions for the 2026 season. The league confirmed it will not add any new programs, marking the first time since 2022 that no institutions are transitioning from the FCS level.
The revised schedule includes eighteen designated weeknight games, officially branded as Weekday CUSA, which are scheduled to run from Thursday, 1 October through Wednesday, 28 October. These contests will be broadcast on ESPN2, ESPNU, and CBS Sports Network under a deal that extends through the 2027 season. The season opener features a Week 0 matchup on Saturday, 29 August, where Jacksonville State travels to Fargo to face North Dakota State.
For the first time in four years, all ten teams in Conference USA are eligible to win the conference championship. This eligibility stems from the absence of programs currently transitioning from the FCS, which previously resulted in temporary one-year bans from the title game. Consequently, newly promoted teams such as Delaware and Missouri State, who both finished with 7-6 records in their debutante FBS seasons, are now able to qualify for the championship game.
The 2026 CUSA Championship Game is scheduled for Friday, 4 December, on CBS Sports Network. The event will be hosted by the team holding the best conference record, with the next highest-ranked team in the standings acting as the visitor. This marks the seventh consecutive year that the conference championship will take place on a Friday night, sharing the date with the Big 12, Mountain West, Pac-12, and Sun Belt championships.
Due to the round-robin format falling short of a full schedule, specific pairings will not occur during the 2026 campaign. The schedule omits matches between Kennesaw State and New Mexico State, as well as the fixture between Middle Tennessee and Missouri State. Despite these exclusions, every team is scheduled to play eight conference games and receive a bye week during October.
