Vanderbilt Football 2026 Kickoff Time Windows Revealed – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt football now knows the time of day it will play each of its 12 games during the 2026 season.
Wednesday night, the SEC released all the time windows for all 16 teams for this fall’s conference schedule. Vanderbilt will begin its conference slate with an afternoon game against Auburn Sept. 26, which will have a start time between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. CT.
A couple weeks ago, Vanderbilt found out the kickoff times for its three nonconference games. The Commodores will begin the season taking on Austin Peay at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ before hosting Delaware at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network Sept. 12 and NC State at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network Sept. 19.
What is new this season about the SEC schedule is that it is the first season that all teams in the conference will play nine conference games. The change was announced ahead of the 2025 season with the implementation beginning this season. The formula of the schedule features three annual opponents while teams cycle through the other 12 SEC teams for four consecutive seasons.
The new scheduling system gives all SEC teams a chance to host and visit all 15 other SEC teams in a four-year span. An additional element to each SEC team’s schedule is that one of the three nonconference games must be against an opponent from another power conference or Notre Dame.
Vanderbilt’s three annual opponents are Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State.
The designated time windows for SEC games are the early slate (11 a.m. to noon CT start), afternoon slate (2:30 p.m. CT to 3:30 p.m. CT start) and night slate (5 p.m. CT to 7 p.m. CT start). The game times for the games that are flexed will be determined six to 12 days before kickoff. However, the SEC games that are listed as "Flex" will be either in the afternoon or night slates.
Here is the Commodores' full 2026 schedule with time windows and television networks.
Sept. 5: vs. Austin Peay, 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+
Sept. 12: vs. Delaware, 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network
Sept. 19: vs. NC State, 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network
Sept. 26: at Auburn, between 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. CT, TBD channel
Oct. 3: at Georgia, between 11 a.m. to noon CT, TBD channel
Oct. 10: vs. Ole Miss, FLEX (afternoon or night window), TBD channel
Oct. 17: vs. Arkansas, FLEX (afternoon or night window), TBD channel
Oct. 24: at Kentucky, between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT, TBD channel
Oct. 31: BYE
Nov. 7: at Mississippi State, FLEX (afternoon or night window), TBD channel
Nov. 14: vs. Alabama, between 11 a.m. to noon CT, TBD channel
Nov. 21: at Florida, between 11 a.m. to noon CT, TBD channel
Nov. 28: vs. Tennessee, between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT, TBD channel
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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