Longhorns Open 2026 with Title Hopes, a Brand-New Facility, and a City Buzzing
There is nowhere else in America you’d rather be today than the Forty Acres.
The Texas Longhorns kick off their 2026 campaign this afternoon against the in-state Texas State Bobcats at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, and if you’ve driven anywhere near campus this week, you already know: this city is thrumming with the kind of anticipation that only comes around when a team looks the part of a real championship contender.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN, and by the time the Longhorn Band strikes up “Texas Fight,” Royal-Memorial will be packed with more than 100,000 fans for the fifth straight season — a streak that says as much about where this program is right now as anything that will happen on the field.
The Matchup: A Rare Meeting with an In-State Rival
This is only the second time these two programs have ever played — the first meeting came all the way back in 1930, a game Texas won. The matchup carries some extra local flavor too: Texas State head coach GJ Kinne played quarterback for the Longhorns in the late 2000s before transferring to Tulsa, so today is something of a homecoming for him, just up I-35 from San Marcos.
Texas State enters off a 7-6 season and a bowl win over Rice, and coach Kinne has restocked the roster through the transfer portal, headlined by dual-threat quarterback Brad Jackson, who threw for over 3,200 yards and rushed for a school-record 17 touchdowns a season ago. But the Bobcats are breaking in a new defensive coordinator and replacing a defense that gave up over 30 points a game last year — exactly the kind of unit a Texas offense with national title aspirations should be able to handle early.
For the Longhorns, all eyes are on quarterback Arch Manning, entering his second full season as the starter after closing out 2025 with a Cheez-It Bowl win over Michigan. He’ll lean on a receiving corps built around returning big-play threat Ryan Wingo and portal addition Cam Coleman, behind an offensive line anchored by left tackle Trevor Goosby and center Connor Robertson.
On defense, a front seven featuring Anthony Hill and Colin Simmons gives Sarkisian’s group a chance to be one of the most disruptive units in the country, even with some turnover in the secondary.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian, for his part, is bracing his team for the normal Week 1 jitters. Asked about it this week, he put it simply: there will be some butterflies when the team runs out of the tunnel — and if there aren’t, he said, you’d better check some pulses.
A New Home Away From Home: The Denius Complex Opens Its Doors
If today’s game is the headline, Friday afternoon was the appetizer — and it might end up mattering just as much over the long haul.
Texas Athletics officially opened the doors on the new Frank and Wofford Denius Football Training Complex, a state-of-the-art practice facility located just south of Royal-Memorial Stadium, on the site once occupied by the Steve Hicks School of Social Work.
The numbers on this building are staggering for a practice facility:
- 79,000 square feet under roof
- A full 100-yard FieldTurf indoor field
- A separate outdoor grass practice field, connected to the indoor field by garage-style doors so the team can split offense and defense between the two, or move the whole operation outside on a nice day
- A four-story underground parking garage with 450 stalls for Longhorn athletes
- The Itkin Silver Spurs reception area, which will double as event space
- An estimated price tag north of $80 million, according to one school source
The ribbon-cutting drew Board of Regents chairman Kevin Eltife, University president Jim Davis, athletic director Chris Del Conte, and Wofford Denius — son of legendary Longhorn benefactor Frank Denius, for whom the practice fields have long been named. Denius gave an emotional speech about growing up a Texas fan, and the new building keeps that family name front and center even as it replaces the old “Bubble,” the inflatable dome that has housed Longhorn practices for years.
Arch Manning, who worked the room at Friday’s ceremony, called the new building “very plush” and “incredible.” Sarkisian, who has coached at Texas since 2021, reflected on his early years practicing at the old Denius Fields — including one memorable scramble to funnel more than 120 players and staff through a single revolving door during a lightning delay. Those days are over. The team was reportedly already using the new building before the ribbon was even cut, with players filing in for a pregame walkthrough while the ceremony was still wrapping up.
It’s a fitting symbol for where this program believes it’s headed: state-of-the-art infrastructure to match a roster built to compete for championships.
Tickets: The Cheapest Seat of the Year Is Today
Here’s some good news for fans who’ve been priced out of marquee games in recent years: today is the most affordable ticket on the Longhorns’ home schedule.
Texas Athletics has officially sold out season tickets and individual game tickets for all home games through its primary box office — the fifth consecutive year the Longhorns have sold out DKR before kickoff. Fans looking for tickets are being directed to SeatGeek, the program’s official fan-to-fan resale marketplace, or other secondary sites like Vivid Seats and TickPick.
On the resale market as of this week, the cheapest available seats for the Texas State opener were running from roughly $82 to $132 for upper-deck, get-in seats, with lower-level seats starting closer to $109. Compare that to what’s coming later this month: tickets for the September 12 home date against Ohio State were listed with a floor above $550, and the Texas A&M finale in November carries a similar premium.
Not every seat is a bargain, either — a viral screenshot circulating this week showed some single-game listings for the Longhorns’ pricier matchups running well into four figures, a reminder of just how hot this market has gotten as the program’s expectations have climbed.
The chart above lays out how dramatically prices shift across the slate — Texas State and UTSA sit at the bottom, non-conference marquee games and the Aggies rivalry sit at the top, and everything else falls somewhere in between depending on the opponent and the calendar.
Gates at DKR typically open 90 minutes to two hours before kickoff, and with a capacity of just over 100,000, this will be one of the loudest environments in the country to kick off a season — even against a lower-profile opponent.
For the fans
Texas Athletics is introducing a new interactive mapping experience at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, giving Longhorn fans a smarter, more intuitive way to explore and navigate Texas Football gamedays.
Powered by Mappedin, the new interactive 3D map allows fans to locate seating areas, concessions, restrooms, first aid, water stations, gates, Fan Services and other important stadium destinations directly from their mobile device.
The Big Picture: A Real Championship Window
It’s not just homer talk this year — the numbers back it up.
Texas enters the season ranked No. 4 in both major preseason polls, its highest preseason ranking since 2009 (a year that ended with a trip to the BCS title game).
Behind Arch Manning’s return and one of the more talented transfer portal hauls in the country, oddsmakers have installed the Longhorns in a virtual tie with Ohio State atop the national championship market, both sitting at +500 — ahead of Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, and everyone else, as shown in the odds chart above.
That’s not to say the road is easy.
Texas plays a brutal SEC slate that includes road trips to Tennessee, Missouri, and LSU, plus the annual Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl and the regular-season finale at Texas A&M. Most realistic projections have the Longhorns needing to navigate at least one loss somewhere on that gauntlet, with the SEC Championship Game viewed as a very real possibility if they can hold serve at home and steal one or two of those road tests.
But for one afternoon, none of that matters yet.
All the record books, magazine predictions, and betting lines say the same thing: this is a team built to make a run. Today is simply the first step — and it comes with a new stadium neighbor, a sold-out house, and a fan base that has waited a long time for October and November to matter this much again.
Hook ’em.
Sources:
- Burnt Orange Nation, “No. 5 Texas vs. Texas State preview: Longhorns open season against in-state foe”
- DIRECTV Insider, “Texas State vs. Texas TV Watch Guide”
- Sports Illustrated, “No. 5 Texas vs. Texas State: How to Watch, Odds, Injuries, and More”
- KXAN Austin, “Texas Longhorns ready for Week 1 test against Texas State after grueling fall camp”
- On Texas Football, “Statistics to track when No. 5 Texas hosts Texas State”
- Yahoo Sports, “Texas vs Texas State football: Longhorn betting lines, predictions for season opener”
- SportsHistori, “Where to watch Texas vs Texas State, Time, Live Stream, Predictions, Pick, Odds”
- Yahoo Sports, “‘Pure Insanity,’ ‘Just Crazy!’ — Longhorns Fans Beyond Outraged By Exorbitant Ticket Prices For 2026 CFB Season”
- Yahoo Sports, “How much are Texas football home opener tickets? Prices fall under $100”
- Yahoo Sports, “How much do Texas football tickets cost in 2026? Hint, Ohio State is pricey.”
- University of Texas Athletics, “Football tickets sold out in advance of 2026 season!”
- Vivid Seats, “Texas Longhorns Football Tickets & 2026 Games”
- TickPick, “Texas Longhorns Football Tickets 2026”
- Yahoo Sports, “A look inside Texas Longhorns’ new $80 million indoor football facility. ‘Incredible'”
- Yahoo Sports, “Take a peek inside the Texas Longhorns’ new $70 million football training complex”
- Burnt Orange Nation, “When the Texas indoor practice facility will finally open”
- Burnt Orange Nation, “Longhorns Daily News: A brief tour of Texas’ new $80 million football training complex”
- Hook ‘Em Headlines, “Even Texas fans who love The Bubble have to applaud the Horns’ new practice facility”
- Fanrecap.com, “Texas Just Unveiled A Football Upgrade Fans Will Feel Proud Of”
- TexasFootball.com, “2026 CFP Championship Odds Released for Texas, Texas A&M and SMU”
- Sports Illustrated, “Texas Reports to Fall Camp With No Shortage of Championship Pressure”
- Sports Illustrated, “Predicting Texas Longhorns’ Final Record, SEC Finish, CFP Fate in 2026”
- KXAN Austin, digital release on 2026 AP Preseason Top 25 poll
- Data Skrive, “2026 College National Football Championship Odds, Favorites, Betting Insights”
This post reflects information available as of the morning of September 5, 2026. Ticket prices on the secondary market change constantly — check SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, or TickPick for real-time availability.
Austin businesses say they’re stocking up and increasing staffing as the Texas Longhorns prepare to face Texas State during a busy Labor Day weekend.
ICE activity was reported early Friday in the North Lamar area. The arrests shown below occurred near the intersection with Walnut Park Crossing.
KXAN-TV has been following the case of 5-year-old Liam Tadeo, who was taken into ICE custody alongside his father in Austin in August. Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said that Liam’s mother, an undocumented immigrant, cannot secure his release despite DHS claims that children can be placed with designated caregivers.
Leander has become the latest Central Texas city to discontinue its use of Flock license plate reader cameras, taking down all of its cameras after a City Council vote Thursday night.
The City of Leander will discontinue funding its contract with Flock, following the directive by the Leander City Council during its September 3, 2026 meeting. As of September 4, 2026, the Leander Police Department is no longer using Flock cameras or Flock data. — City of Leander
The move makes Leander the third Central Texas city in the last two days to end its relationship with Flock, following Manor and Elgin.
A mosquito sample in a trap near Lakewood Park in Leander has tested positive for West Nile Virus, according to the Williamson County and Cities Health District.
Wimberley officials also confirmed a positive test.
Hays County health authorities collected the positive sample from a site in Wimberley on Tuesday. This is the ninth West Nile Virus-positive mosquito pool collected through the Hays County Mosquito Surveillance Program during the 2026 season. Statewide, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 1,273 positive mosquito pools in 2026.
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office Organized Crime Unit on Friday successfully located and apprehended a registered sex offender wanted on outstanding charges.
A Hays County jury convicted a man for a 2020 homicide. Isaac Arispe was given a 40-year sentence for the crime, at which time he was a juvenile and had been certified to stand trial as an adult.
And a 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 50 years for shooting San Marcos police officer.
Tesla launched its Cybercab autonomous taxi service in Austin on Thursday, putting the two-seat, steering-wheel-free vehicles onto public streets for paying riders for the first time.
The move marks the first public deployment of the fully autonomous vehicle, with early riders praising the Full Self-Driving system’s smooth performance, even though Tesla skipped a public livestream, leaving details of the rollout scarce.
The company had 45 Cybercabs authorized for driverless operation in Texas as of Wednesday night, out of 420 vehicles registered in the state for driverless operations.
The launch has already drawn scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which opened an audit query into how Tesla certified the vehicle’s safety standards.
San Antonio’s City Council green-lit Tesla’s rezoning request to develop a parking and dispatch site for the driverless Cybercabs near the San Antonio International Airport. (San Antonio News-Express)
A two-day operational deployment will be conducted by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Enforcement Division, aimed at reducing alcohol‑related crashes and incidents throughout the Labor Day weekend.
The Austin Police Department Lake Patrol Unit will be enforcing the City Ordinance that prohibits the use and operation of personal watercraft, wet bikes, motorized surfboards, and similar devices (designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the vessel), on Lake Austin now through sunrise Tuesday morning. (Austin Police Department)
The city’s firefighter’s union posted about the many, many grass, brush, and wildfire-related incidents Austin firefighters have responded to recently.
Burnet County fire authorities have been busy too.
Texas A&M Forest Service officials are monitoring several wildfires across the Lone Star State.
The largest blaze continues to be the Ross Fire in Palo Pinto County.
Burning for ten days since its human-caused ignition on August 24th, the active Ross Fire has expanded to 90,400 acres in Palo Pinto County, maintaining an approximate average daily growth of 9,040 acres per day.
It is estimated at 90,400 acres, and 38% is contained.
The wildfire has destroyed 167 structures, including 18 occupied residences and damaged 95 structures. Local and state firefighters have saved 453 structures and no fatalities have been reported.
WEATHER
FRIDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
Friday’s high temperatures failed to reach 100 degrees for the first time in 20 days.
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
LAKE TRAVIS TIMELAPSE VIDEO
What started as a local debate over surveillance technology has become a national conversation. We speak with Texas Congressman Keith Self, who’s pushing federal legislation that would require warrants before federal agencies can access surveillance data. We examine the growing privacy concerns, the argument from law enforcement that the cameras help solve crimes, and the broader debate over how much surveillance is too much.
While data centers have sparked concern across much of Texas, one Panhandle community sees potential benefits. Dylan McKim looks closer at developments in Turkey, Texas, where a proposed $10 billion data center project could help fund long-overdue water and wastewater upgrades. City leaders say the partnership could provide critical infrastructure improvements while supporting future growth.
New polling shows Governor Greg Abbott holding a one-point lead over Democrat Gina Hinojosa, marking the third poll in five weeks to show a highly competitive race. Adam Schwager breaks down the numbers, the role President Donald Trump’s approval ratings may be playing, and how issues like data centers are emerging as factors in the campaign.
A new survey projects the largest increase in employer health care costs in more than two decades, raising concerns that many Texans could be paying more for coverage next year. We look at the factors driving the increase and explore the bipartisan ideas lawmakers are considering to improve transparency and affordability.
THIS WEEKEND’S EPISODE OF STATE OF TEXAS
With Texas Republicans still divided following a nasty and expensive US Senate primary, Sen. Ted Cruz has this message for those in the GOP unhappy with their nominee Ken Paxton: “Stop yer bitchin.'”
In this semi-special episode, we explore all facets of a question Republicans in Texas are dealing with – how to win when their standard bearer in this state is described even by President Trump as lackluster on the campaign trail?
And why haven’t the West Texas billionaires who always previously bankrolled Paxton now closing their wallets? It’s the perfect primer heading into next week’s Midterm RNC Convention in Dallas.
(Episode from September 4, 2026)
On this week’s episode of Party Politics, co-hosts Brandon Rottinghaus and Jeronimo Cortina examine the continuing resolution and whether Republicans can claim credit for recent political wins. The hosts also look at plans for a televised GOP midterm convention and what the gathering could mean for the Texas Senate race, as well as the growing barrage of campaign ads.
In Texas, they examine Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to block funding for Flock surveillance cameras and discuss former Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appearance in a video game. They also cover Meta’s $1 billion settlement with Texas and what it could mean for the state’s ongoing battles with the tech giant.
(Episode from September 4, 2026)
At least 90,000 acres burned. More than two million gallons of water and half-a-million gallons of fire retardant dropped. The Ross Fire in Jack and Palo Pinto Counties is still going strong nearly two weeks after the human-caused blaze ignited. It comes just as The Texas A&M Forest Service, the state agency behind wildfire response, is in the process of spending $630 million lawmakers provided in 2025 for “game changer” upgrades, including aircraft that will coordinate aerial firefighting, helicopters that can carry hundreds of gallons of water and large air tankers to drop the retardant. But the Ross Fire proves there is never enough.
And in this episode of Y’all-itics, you’ll learn why next year, they’ll ask lawmakers for even more; this time focused on humans instead of equipment.
(Episode from September 4, 2026)
The Texas Animal Health Commission released movement restrictions for areas of Texas previously designated as New World screwworm Infested Zones.
Houston water customers were given leeway over the past several years following instances of inaccurate billing. But that’s about to change.
SPORTS
TEXAS A&M / TEXAS TECH / HOUSTON
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Week 2 area scores from last night:
- San Antonio Johnson 38, Vandegrift 7 — the No. 2-ranked 6A Vipers fell on the road
- Vista Ridge 40, Bowie 37 — back-and-forth game
- Lake Travis 38, Weiss 21 — knocked previously No. 1-ranked 5A Weiss from the unbeaten ranks
- Rouse 45, Georgetown 27 — upset of the No. 4-ranked 5A Bulldogs
- Anderson defeated Pflugerville, 40-30, surviving a tough challenge
Not played last night
- Liberty Hill at San Marcos was postponed to Saturday morning due to a referee shortage.
MLS: Austin FC returns home to Q2 Stadium to face San Jose Earthquakes in search of a second consecutive win on Saturday night. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT. (Austin FC)
MLB: With only a month to go in the MLB regular season, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers continue to battle for the division.
Yainer Diaz hit a solo home run in a three-run third inning, Cristian Javier combined with four relievers to limit Arizona to three hits and the Astros beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 on Friday night. (Associated Press via MSN)
Jonathan Aranda and Richie Palacios homered, and the Tampa Bay Rays overcame the first grand slam of the season by Texas in a 7-6 victory Friday night, ending a 10-game road losing streak against the Rangers. (Associated Press)
ON THE SCHEDULE
AL WEST STANDINGS
| Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Away |
| Houston Astros | 73 | 69 | .514 | — | 37–36 | 36–33 |
| Texas Rangers | 70 | 72 | .493 | 3.0 | 39–31 | 31–41 |
| Seattle Mariners | 66 | 76 | .465 | 7.0 | 37–33 | 29–43 |
| Athletics | 56 | 86 | .394 | 17.0 | 25–44 | 31–42 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 53 | 88 | .376 | 19.5 | 30–44 | 23–44 |
Author Bobby Hawthorne discusses the 1963 Texas Longhorns national championship team and other stories from his book.
