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

[Matt Dillon]

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

Kickoff Times Revealed for First Three Games of 2026 Kentucky Football Season - On3

[CATHYnKY]

Thank goodness no noon games so far

[bigblue4life]

Thank goodness no noon games so far

Peeking ahead to the following week (Sept 26), UK plays South Alabama at home, and Arkansas hosts Tulsa. All other SEC games that week are conference matchups. There's a very high likelihood that either the UK game or the Arkansas game will be a 12N KO. We'll see.....

espn.com