Texas' road warrior status will be tested in 2025 by large crowds and late kickoff times

The Texas Longhorns already knew the dates for their games on the 2025 schedule. On Thursday, most TV times for the 12 regular season contests in Steve Sarkisian‘s fifth season were released as well either as specific kick times or as broadcast windows.

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Kickoff times and TV windows are here 🤘@TexasLonghorns x @SEC pic.twitter.com/LBCws9Hu5m

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) June 11, 2025

The Longhorns already had a challenging schedule, but other teams within the Southeastern Conference have more difficult schedules according to advanced metrics. Texas’ ranked No. 12 in Bill Connelly’s SP+ strength of schedule rating, behind 10 other SEC teams.

The challenge for the Longhorns’ 2025 schedule isn’t just the teams they’re facing, as they draw Ohio State, Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Texas A&M during the regular season. Rather, it’s the tough environments they’ll see when playing many of those teams with the possibility for as many as five road night games during their second year in the SEC.

And as a result, Texas’ road warrior status will be tested by several difficult games. The Longhorns last lost a true road game in 2022, when Oklahoma State came from behind to beat the Texas in Stillwater, 41-34. Since then, Texas is 11-0 in true road games with wins at Kansas State, Alabama, Michigan, and Texas A&M in that category.

That’ll be tough to maintain this year as Texas has to go to Ohio State, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Georgia. The only game that the Longhorns may play in the morning as the visiting team is the season opener.

Though Ohio State fans may be sick of noon Eastern kicks, that has not prevented Buckeye faithful from turning Ohio Stadium into a difficult road environment. Just ask Texas fans who made the trek to Columbus in 2005. Since stadium attendance returned to normal in 2021, the Buckeyes have just three home losses: Oregon in 2021, Michigan in 2022, and Michigan again in 2024. When 100,000 people pack into one place, even if it’s in the early stages of the afternoon, it creates a tough environment.

That is the only difficult atmosphere guaranteed to be played in daylight hours. Texas’ matchups with Florida, Mississippi State, and Georgia were all given “flex” designations by the SEC, meaning they could kick off between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Central, or they could kick off between 5 and 7 p.m. Central. The game at Kentucky is scheduled to kick off at night. No matter what, those games provide opposing fans time to gear up for a visit from Texas.

Those stadiums aren’t easy to play in. During the Billy Napier era, the Florida Gators are 11-6 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in games that start after 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Mississippi State is coming off a 2-10 season, but the cowbells the Longhorns will hear upon arrival in Starkville are much louder than the ones popularly used by the Showband of the Southwest. Kentucky struggled last season to a 4-8 record, including a 2-6 record at home. But the ‘Cats gave No. 1 Georgia all they could handle in a night game in Lexington, falling 13-12 to the eventual SEC Champions.

Georgia’s Sanford Stadium presents the most difficult road challenge. The Bulldogs haven’t lost a home game since 2019, when South Carolina marched out of Athens with a 20-17 win. Their last home loss on a game that kicked either at 3:30 p.m. Eastern or later was in 2016 to Tennessee. That was Kirby Smart‘s first year.

Lots of people will be rooting for the Longhorns to fail. Ohio Stadium has a capacity of 102,780. The Swamp packs in 88,548-plus. Kroger Field in Lexington holds 61,000 but can pack almost 10,000 more into the stands. Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville welcomes 61,337 fans weekly with most carrying cowbells. Finally, Sanford Stadium packs in over 93,000 on a weekly basis to watch the Bulldogs.

The tougher environments dwarf the difficult venues Texas previously saw in the Big 12. And considering Texas’ likelihood of being in the national championship race with Arch Manning at the helm, television networks will want to put as many eyes as possible on the Longhorns. That most likely means night games for national television audiences. That means more hostile environments.

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Texas has been a great road team since it returned from Stillwater in 2022. To keep that title, they’ll have to overcome their most difficult road challenges yet in 2025.