LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's football time in the Bluegrass.
Almost.
With the official start of the college football season now three months away, the Southeastern Conference is beginning to announce kickoff times for the sport's early slate. That includes Kentucky's first three games, as new head coach Will Stein gets his tenure underway in Lexington.
The Cats will open their season Saturday, Sept. 5 with a home game against Youngstown State, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+.
League play arrives in Kroger Field the following Saturday, Sept. 12, when the Wildcats host Alabama. The Cats vs. the Crimson Tide is set for a 3:30 p.m. start on ABC.
Coach Stein gets his first SEC road test in week three, when UK travels to the Lone Star State to face Texas A&M. The Cats and the Aggies will meet at 3:30 p.m. on either ESPN or ESPN2, as UK defensive coordinator Jay Bateman returns to College Station, where he spent last season in the same role for the Aggies.
Kickoff times and TV network assignments have not yet been released for the remainder of the schedule, which is as follows:
Saturday, Sept. 26: UK vs. South Alabama
Saturday, Oct. 3: UK at South Carolina
Saturday, Oct. 10: UK vs. LSU
Saturday, Oct. 17: UK at Oklahoma
Saturday, Oct. 24: UK vs. Vanderbilt
Saturday, Oct. 31: BYE WEEK
Saturday, Nov. 7: UK at Tennessee
Saturday, Nov. 14: UK vs. Florida
Saturday, Nov. 21: UK at Missouri
Saturday, Nov. 28: UK vs. Louisville
One notable change this year is the fact there is only one bye week built into the schedule. Teams have had two bye weeks in each of the past two seasons, based on the number of weeks between Labor Day weekend and Thanksgiving weekend.
In its current format, teams will have just one bye week this year (2026) and each year through 2029, with a return to two bye weeks in 2030 and 2031.
However, this is one item up for discussion at the NCAA Division I Cabinet meetings, set for this June. A recent proposal from the NCAA Football Oversight Committee recommends moving the first game of the regular season back one week, meaning teams would have 14 weeks to schedule 12 games, beginning the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend.
For more on Kentucky football and all of the Wildcats, join us on BBN Tonight, airing weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on the official station for UK Athletics, LEX 18.
