Louisiana Tech’s football players had better be in shape this upcoming season, because the Bulldogs have an unprecedented schedule ahead of them.
Their 2026 schedule features 20 games over the course of 13 weeks.
The season starts off normally, with games every Saturday from September 5th through October 3rd, including a September 12th matchup against LSU in Death Valley.
From there, however, that’s when the Bulldogs’ schedule gets bunched up, with games every three or four days, including two days in November (Nov. 7, Nov. 28) in which they have two games in two different cities each day.
Will Tech need to form a JV team to fulfill the split squad dates?
What actually happened was that Tech’s current conference, Conference USA, and the conference they’re trying to join for 2026, the Sun Belt, released their football schedules for the coming season, with both including the Bulldogs in them.
Tech accepted the Sun Belt’s invitation to join the conference last July, giving Conference USA a 12-month notice that it was leaving.
It’s that 12-month notice that’s at the heart of the dispute between LA Tech and C-USA.
“They had to give 14 months notice instead of 12 months notice,” says Dave Schultz, the host of the Locked On Sun Belt Podcast, “and so Conference USA is holding that over their head.”
Louisiana Tech has been trying to negotiate a settlement ever since, but Schultz says Conference USA has been having none of it.
“It came in July instead of the end of May, and Conference USA has been very, very petty and not negotiating in good faith,” says Schultz. “LA Tech is offering plenty of money. Conference USA has to accept it somewhere along the way.”
Schultz says the situation should never have reached this point.
“It should have all been resolved last football season, if not by the end of year,” Schultz says. “We’re already mid-March, and spring football is happening.”
Earlier in March, Louisiana Tech sued Conference USA in an effort to join the Sun Belt for the 2026 football season, and a hearing is scheduled for March 19th.
“We’ll see what the judge does Thursday,” says Schultz, “but I would be surprised if LA Tech is not in the Sun Belt in 2026.”
If that indeed happens, Middle Tennessee State, Florida International, Missouri State, Liberty, Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State, Delaware and Western Kentucky will all have open dates that will need to be filled.
“That seems to be a Conference USA problem, not a LA Tech or Sun Belt problem,” Schultz says.
Louisiana Tech 2026 football schedule, as of March 13:
(all dates Saturday, unless otherwise indicated)
September 5 vs. Northwestern State
September 12 at LSU
September 19 at Baylor
September 26 vs. Middle Tennessee State (Conference USA)
October 3 vs. Army
October 8 (Thurs.) at Florida International (Conference USA)
October 10 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt)
October 14 (Wed.) vs. Missouri State (Conference USA)
October 17 at Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt)
October 21 (Wed.) at Liberty (Conference USA)
October 24 vs. Old Dominion (Sun Belt)
October 28 (Wed.) vs. Kennesaw State (Conference USA)
October 31 at South Alabama (Sun Belt)
November 7 at Jacksonville State (Conference USA); at Troy (Sun Belt)
November 14 vs. Southern Miss (Sun Belt)
TBA (November 19, 20 or 21) vs. Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
November 21 vs. Delaware (Conference USA)
November 28 at Western Kentucky (Conference USA); at Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)
Comments