Kickoff Times Revealed for First Three Games of 2026 Kentucky Football Season

You’ve already marked your calendars ahead of the 2026 Kentucky football season. Now you can add a few more details.

For the first time since 2013, there’s a new head football coach in Lexington. Will Stein is the youngest head coach in the SEC. After his first game against Youngstown State, the Louisville native will be faced with one difficult challenge after another against 10 Power Conference opponents.

Thanks to the TV deal between the SEC and ESPN, we now know when we will be able to see the Wildcats in action this fall. Under the prior broadcasting agreement, SEC fans learned kickoff times less than two weeks in advance. Thanks to ESPN’s exclusive rights, the Worldwide Leader is giving Kentucky fans more time to plan ahead.

On Wednesday, the SEC unveiled kickoff times for the first three weeks of the 2026 season. There are still a little more than 100 days until Kentucky kicks off the 2026 season. Plenty of time to plan your Saturday gamedays.

2026 Kentucky Football Kickoff Times

9/05: Youngstown State | 1:00 | SEC Network+
9/12: Alabama | 3:30 | ABC
9/19: at Texas A&M | 3:30 | ESPN/ESPN2

Takeaways

For the third straight season, Kentucky will host the first SEC game of the season. The first two games did not go well. South Carolina handed the Wildcats an embarrassing defeat in 2024. The ABC crew was mocking Kentucky’s 2-minute operation going into halftime of last year’s game, which ultimately ended with a 7-point loss to Ole Miss.

Kentucky’s second game at Texas A&M as an SEC foe will be a hot one in College Station. After sweating it out at Kyle Field, BBN will get to cool down while watching Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss with the LSU Tigers. That highly-anticipated game will kick off in Oxford at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

[Every Kickoff Time for the First Three Weeks of the SEC Football Season]

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