West Virginia’s 2026 football schedule does not require the Mountaineers to play away from home in consecutive weeks, but has the team playing eight straight weeks before its lone bye, as released Wednesday by the Big 12 Conference.
WVU has seven home games and four road games, including its regular season finale at Utah that will mark the seventh time over the last eight years the Mountaineers have wrapped up the regular season with an away contest (the 2025 finale against Texas Tech is the exception).
The Mountaineers will open the second season in the second stint of head coach Rich Rodriguez by welcoming Coastal Carolina to Milan Puskar Stadium. The Chanticleers hired Ryan Beard of Missouri State as their head coach last month.
A home tilt with FCS program Tennessee-Martin follows, before WVU takes on Virginia at Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers.
After concluding non-league play, WVU will welcome Oklahoma State for its Big 12 opener. The Mountaineers travel the following week for their first road game at Iowa State.
Both the Cowboys (Eric Morris, formerly of North Texas) and Cyclones (Jimmy Rogers, formerly of Washington State) have a new head coach.
Consecutive contests in Morgantown against Arizona and Cincinnati mark the team’s sixth and seventh games, before a trip to TCU that would mean playing eight straight Saturdays.
For now, West Virginia is scheduled to play exclusively on Saturdays, though the Big 12 reserves the right to adjust select games on that day of the week to Friday instead.
The team’s lone open date comes on Halloween, while the first November contest is a matchup at defending Big 12 champion Texas Tech.
Kansas and Houston play in Morgantown the second and third weekend of November, respectively, before WVU closes the regular season with a lengthy trip to face the Utes.
Utah will mark the fourth team on WVU’s 2026 slate with a new head coach after its former defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley replaced Kyle Wittingham.
West Virginia’s 12 opponents in 2026 finished with a combined record of 95-59 last season, including 89-53 from the 11 FBS foes and 83-46 from the 10 power conference teams.
The Mountaineers’ nine Big 12 opponents next season were a combined 72-43 in 2025.
2026 WVU Football Schedule
Day Date Opponent
Sat. Sept. 5 COASTAL CAROLINA
Sat. Sept. 12 UT MARTIN
Sat. Sept. 19 vs. Virginia +
Sat. Sept. 26 OKLAHOMA STATE *
Sat. Oct. 3 at Iowa State *
Sat. Oct. 10 ARIZONA *
Sat. Oct. 17 CINCINNATI *^
Sat. Oct. 24 at TCU *
Sat. Oct. 31 Open
Sat. Nov. 7 at Texas Tech *
Sat. Nov. 14 KANSAS *#
Sat. Nov. 21 HOUSTON *
Sat. Nov. 28 at Utah *
Fri. Dec. 4 Big 12 Championship (AT&T Stadium)
* Big 12 Conference Game
+ at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
^ Homecoming
# Mountaineer Week
PLEASE NOTE: Per the Big 12, select Saturday games in the 2026 season may be adjusted to select Fridays. These games will be announced in the coming weeks.