USC football schedule 2023: Who do the Trojans miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?
USC Football Schedule 2023: 3 Things To Know
Aug 26 San Jose State
Sept 2 Nevada
Sept 9 Stanford
Sept 16 OPEN DATE
Sept 23 at Arizona State
Sept 30 at Colorado
Oct 7 Arizona
Oct 14 at Notre Dame
Oct 21 Utah
Oct 28 at Cal
Nov 4 Washington
Nov 11 at Oregon
Nov 18 UCLA
Nov 25 OPEN DATE
2023 College Football Rankings 1-133: First Look
USC Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Trojans miss from the Pac-12 slate?
In one of the more unfortunate scheduling quirks of of 2022, USC was able to miss both Oregon and Washington. That was a huge part of the puzzle to get the Trojans within a hamstring of the College Football Playoff.
The two other big boys are back on the slate now in back-to-back weeks in November. That stinks, but missing both Oregon State – who was a nasty out in 2022 – and Washington State isn’t a bad deal.
USC Football Schedule What Really Matters
Yeah, having Oregon and Washington back on the schedule is a big deal, but … boo hoo. If USC really is improved enough defensively to be back in the Pac-12 Championship and CFP mix, there’s no real problem with the conference slate.
There are only four Pac-12 road games and five away dates overall. Washington has to come to LA, UCLA has to make the trip down the road, and best of all, Utah is a home game. Three of the conference road games against Cal, Arizona State, and Colorado are about as manageable as they get. The date at Oregon isn’t.
USC Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?
San Jose State, Nevada, Stanford, a week off, at Arizona State, at Colorado, Arizona. That means USC plays one team that went bowling in 2022 before the middle of October, and San Jose State is hardly anything to get into a twist over.
However, there’s a run of three road games in four weeks, and the end of the fun is Notre Dame. The finishing kick is rough with that date against the Irish, Utah, at Cal, Washington, at Oregon, UCLA, but is USC is that good, getting back to the Pac-12 Championship at 11-1 is possible.
With Washington and Oregon back in the mix, though – along with the road game at Notre Dame – it might not be probable.
