The Cincinnati Bearcats are gearing up for year four. It’s year four of the Scott Satterfield era and year four of Big 12 membership.
Both of those overlapping eras experienced a peak in 2025, as Cincinnati finally cleared the hurdle of bowl eligibility. The Bearcats attained a positive record at 7-6 and qualified for the Liberty Bowl. Despite their best showing in three years, the ending was certainly bitter. Cincinnati started 7-1 and climbed as high as No. 17 in the AP Poll, controlling its own
destiny for the Big 12 Championship Game as late as the morning of Nov. 14.
After Cincinnati dropped 5-consecutive matchups to close 2024, the same phenomenon reared its head in 2025. The Bearcats ended on a 5-game losing streak, finishing with a 35-13 defeat to former American Conference foe Navy in the Liberty Bowl.
However, 2026 is a new year presenting new opportunities for Satterfield and the Bearcats, which look to continue their climb. They’ve improved their record each year in the Big 12 and look to make tangible progress in 2026. The Big 12 revealed its schedule Wednesday, and now Cincinnati knows what lies ahead in its upcoming schedule:
Notes and trivia
- The Big 12 Championship Game is moving to Friday night for the first time ever. It will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC from its usual location of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on Dec. 4. Since the Big 12 relaunched its title game in 2017, it has occupied the 12 p.m. ET window on ABC every year. There has been a growing trend of conference championships moving to Friday night. Conference USA has occupied Friday night since 2020. The American and Mountain West joined in 2024. The Sun Belt also moved to Friday night in 2025. Unless any of those championships revert back to Saturday, there will be five title games on Friday, Dec. 4, 2026.
- All of Cincinnati’s games are currently slated for Saturday, but the Big 12 will move select games to Friday night in the coming weeks. In 2025, Cincinnati played zero Friday games but opened against Nebraska on a Thursday night in a non-conference neutral-site matchup. In 2024, Cincinnati also played zero Friday games. The Bearcats’ lone Friday night appearance since joining the Big 12 was Sept. 29, 2023 at BYU in their debut season.
- Cincinnati does not leave the confines of its city until Oct. 3 for a road matchup at Arizona. The Bearcats start with four-straight games in Cincinnati, including a Sept. 19 neutral-site matchup vs. Miami (OH) at Paycor Stadium — home of the Cincinnati Bengals. They do not have a road non-conference game in 2026.
- Cincinnati finished 1-3 against its 2026 opponents in 2025 with a lone win over Iowa State and losses to Arizona, Utah, and BYU. Kansas State, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Houston, and Colorado are the conference opponents the Bearcats did not see in 2025, but played in 2024 and will face again in 2026.
- The six Big 12 opponents missing from Cincinnati’s 2026 schedule include Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, TCU, and UCF. This is the first time Cincinnati will not play UCF since 2014, ending 11 consecutive years of matchups.
- The only road trip Cincinnati will take for the first time as a Big 12 member is at Arizona on Oct. 3. This is the second meeting between the Bearcats and the Wildcats in history, with Arizona’s 30-24 win at Nippert Stadium in 2025 marking the first.
- Cincinnati hosts Kansas State, Texas Tech, Utah, and Colorado for the first time as a Big 12 member. Kansas State last visited Nippert Stadium in 1995. Texas Tech, Utah, and Colorado are paying their first-ever visits to the 100+ year old venue.
- Cincinnati will face Iowa State for the fourth-straight year. Iowa State is the only opponent the Bearcats had on the schedule every year from 2023-26. Iowa State won the 2023 and 2024 meetings, while Cincinnati got revenge in 2025.
- Cincinnati plays conference games in all four time zones. They’ll play in three different time zones during the final three weeks of the regular season: Central (at Iowa State on Nov. 14), Eastern (vs. Colorado on Nov. 21), and Mountain (at BYU on Nov. 28). The lone Pacific Time game is at Arizona on Oct. 3.
- The Sept. 19 matchup between Cincinnati and Miami (OH) represents the final scheduled meeting of the Victory Bell rivalry. It is the oldest non-conference rivalry in college football, with the opponents first battling in 1888. With 128 meetings, it is tied with Stanford-Californai for the 5th-most played FBS rivalry, behind Minnesota-Wisconsin, Georgia-Auburn, North Carolina-Virginia, and Oregon-Oregon State. Cincinnati leads the all-time series 61-60-7 heading into the final meeting against Miami at Paycor Stadium on Sept. 19.
