Oregon Ducks blogger and podcast host agrees with us: USC got the short end of the stick

Think we’re overreacting to the #Pac12FB schedule? @Ducks_Wire editor and Sco-Ing Long Oregon podcast host @ZacharyCNeel thinks USC fans have a right to be angry.

File this one under “His words, not mine.”

We have stated our case, making the argument that USC was uniquely disadvantaged by the 2023 Pac-12 football schedule. Surely, everyone else in the Pac-12 media ecosystem thinks we’re just whining and bellyaching on our way out the door to the Big Ten.

Or maybe not!

Not so fast, my friend!

Ducks Wire editor Zachary Neel has offered his analysis of every team’s Pac-12 football schedule for 2023. You can read Zach’s incisive, thoughtful piece and judge for yourself. We encourage you to follow Zach and his team at Ducks Wire for complete coverage of Oregon football and Oregon athletics.

Zach, who — full disclosure — invited Trojans Wire onto his new podcast earlier this week, has thought about the claim that USC was given a uniquely bad break by the Pac-12 on its way out the door.

Zach wrestled with the facts. He considered all the angles.

Here’s what he had to say:

“What became clear during that exercise, and in listening to the narrative built over the past week, is that the USC Trojan fans are not happy with how things played out in the schedule-making process.

“I think their anger is justified, as well.”

Zach continues a little later in his piece, noting that USC plays Notre Dame, Utah, Washington and Oregon in a five-week stretch:

“If you compare that stretch of five games for USC to the toughest stretch of games on Oregon’s schedule — Week 7 at Washington, Week 8 vs. Washington State, and Week 9 at Utah — it’s clear which option I’d rather have. On top of that, the Ducks also get to play Utah the week after the Utes play USC, and USC the week after the Trojans play Washington. That’s not nothing.”

His words, not mine.

An Oregon blogger and podcast host agrees with Trojans Wire. It’s not just us. Others outside our USC-centric orbit agree.

Be sure to listen to Zach’s new Oregon podcast, Sco-Ing Long. Continue to follow his work at Ducks Wire all year long.

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