Texas' long journey away from DKR is a rarity across the last 30 years

The Southeastern Conference is moving to a nine-game league schedule in 2026 that will see Texas play four true road games, four home games, and the neutral site Red River Shootout in Dallas versus Oklahoma. 2025 stands as the last scheduled year with an eight-game league slate, and the schedule masters in the league office in Birmingham did the Longhorns no favors for their second season in the SEC.

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For just the third time since 1996, Texas had to endure a stretch of five weeks without a home game. The Longhorns had the week of September 27 off, lost to Florida in Gainesville on October 4, defeated Oklahoma in Dallas on October 11, then took care of both Kentucky and Mississippi State on the road in overtime over the last two weeks.

“48 hours, we’re back in DKR which is obviously very exciting for us,’ Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday. “It’ll be 42 days Saturday from our last home game, so the idea that we get to run out of our own tunnel and play in front of our 100,000 fans and feel their support and their energy I think is exciting.”

The last time Texas was away from home for a five-week stretch was in 2013. Mack Brown‘s team had a bye after defeating Kansas State at home, then traveled to Iowa State for a one-point Thursday night win. Texas then defeated No. 12 Oklahoma in Dallas, topped TCU 30-7, and had a second bye before returning home to beat Kansas.

The previous instance of five straight weeks away from home was in 1997. The Longhorns started 1-1, that one loss being the infamous Rout 66 game against UCLA. Texas regrouped on bye then embarked on their journey by defeating Rice in the Longhorns’ last appearance at Rice Stadium. John Mackovic‘s team then lost its Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State, rallied to beat Oklahoma 27-24, then lost to Missouri on Columbia.

There have been several instances of Texas spending four straight weeks away from home. That occurred most recently in 2016.

• 1996: Three weeks (Oklahoma, bye, #8 Colorado)
• 1997: Five weeks (bye, Rice, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Missouri)
• 1998: Two weeks (#6 UCLA, #5 Kansas State // Oklahoma, bye // Texas Tech, bye)
• 1999: Two weeks (Oklahoma, bye // Iowa State, Oklahoma State)
• 2000: Three weeks (Texas Tech, Kansas State, bye)
  
• 2001: Two weeks (North Carolina, bye // #3 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State // Missouri, Baylor)
• 2002: Two weeks (#2 Oklahoma, #17 Kansas State // Texas Tech, bye)
• 2003: Three weeks (#1 Oklahoma, Iowa State, Baylor)
• 2004: Two weeks (Arkansas, bye // Texas Tech, Colorado // Kansas, bye)
• 2005: Three weeks (bye, Missouri, Oklahoma)
  
• 2006: Two weeks (#17 Nebraska, Texas Tech // Kansas State, bye)
• 2007: Three weeks (#10 Oklahoma, Iowa State, Baylor)
• 2008: Two weeks (UTEP, bye // Colorado, #1 Oklahoma // Kansas, bye)
• 2009: Three weeks (#20 Oklahoma, Missouri, #13 Oklahoma State)
• 2010: Three weeks (#8 Oklahoma, bye, #5 Nebraska)
  
• 2011: Four weeks (UCLA, bye, Iowa State, #3 Oklahoma)
• 2012: Three weeks (Ole Miss, bye, Oklahoma State)
• 2013: Five weeks (bye, Iowa State, #12 Oklahoma, bye, TCU)
• 2014: Three weeks (#12 UCLA, bye, Kansas)
• 2015: Three weeks (#4 TCU, #10 Oklahoma, bye)
  
• 2016: Four weeks (Cal, bye, Oklahoma State, #20 Oklahoma)
• 2017: Three weeks (#4 USC, bye, Iowa State)
• 2018: Two weeks (Kansas State, #7 Oklahoma // bye, Oklahoma State)
• 2019: Three weeks (bye, West Virginia, #6 Oklahoma)
• 2020: Two weeks (bye, at Texas Tech // bye, COVID cancelation)
  
• 2021: Three weeks (bye, #16 Baylor, Iowa State)
• 2022: Three weeks (#11 Oklahoma State, bye, #13 Kansas State)
• 2023: Three weeks (#12 Oklahoma, bye, Houston)
• 2024: Two weeks (bye, #18 Oklahoma // Vanderbilt, bye)
• 2025: Five weeks (bye, Florida, #6 Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi State)

Texas is glad to be back home on Saturday with a bye week on the other side of Vanderbilt after traversing something only two other Longhorn teams have had to deal with since 1996.