In the middle of may, college football fans look at the upcoming season schedules and plot out the likely wins, the probable losses, and the toss-up games they circle in red as the true keys to the season.
A football schedule is marvelous in its simplicity and accessibility. Even before the internet arrived in the 1990s, college football fans knew which 11 teams (now 12 — the season expanded from 11 to 12 games nearly 20 years ago) their team and other competitors would play. Fans didn’t have to Google search for this information.
Fans have been examining college football schedules in late spring and early summer for generations. With USC entering its last Pac-12 football season before moving to the Big Ten, there’s an extra-poignant feel to this 2023 journey. Each Pac-12 clash for USC will carry a little extra weight.