Tag: Pac-12 Football Schedule

Pac-12 football schedule and TV guide for Week 3

#USC has this weekend off, so kick back and enjoy the other #Pac12 football games on the slate. We have all the information.

The Week 3 schedule for the 2023 college football season is not particularly electric or amazing. This is one of those weeks in which interesting games are going to emerge from unexpected sources. The weeks when everything seems chalky and predictable are often the weeks when all heck breaks loose, but the magic in all of this is that you don’t know which game will create the unexpected chaos.

One obvious note about the Week 3 schedule in college football is that USC won’t be part of it. The Trojans will rest up for the challenging, demanding nine-week gauntlet they are about to enter. That’s right: USC will play on nine straight weekends from September 23 through November 18. The Trojans will need to conserve their energy and be as efficient as they reasonably can if they want to reach the Pac-12 Championship Game and contend for the College Football Playoff.

This weekend, USC will kick back, relax, and watch other teams play college football. You can, too.

Here’s the full Pac-12 schedule for you, complete with network assignments and game announcers:

USC has to play late-night game at Arizona State on Sept. 23 — which is great news

#USC and #Pac12 fans normally hate late-night games, but playing late is great news for the Trojans here. We’ll explain.

The Pac-12’s television selections have been announced for Week 4 of the season on September 23. USC plays at Arizona State, the Trojans’ first road game of their 2023 season.

We know that USC fans and Pac-12 fans hate the late-night kickoffs at 7:30 p.m. in Los Angeles, Seattle, Corvallis, Berkeley, and all other Pacific time zone locations. The Trojans will have to wait until 7:30 p.m. in Tempe, Arizona, for the Week 4 battle against the Arizona State Sun Devils. USC was placed in the late-night slot on Fox Sports.

USC fans might groan and grumble about the late-game placement for September 23, but we are here to tell you this is a good thing for the Trojans.

A night game being good? On the road? In this economy? This is actually one instance in which a night-game kickoff for USC is beneficial to the Trojans. The explanation is not complicated at all.

Let’s go through the details and give you other Pac-12 football information for Week 4 on September 23:

Pac-12 football standings after Week 2

The #Pac12 finally did lose a game, but the big hitters remained unbeaten. The conference’s overall record: 21-4.

The second full week of college football has come to an end, and the Pac-12 Conference once again had a successful weekend. Unfortunately, the Pac-12 lost some games after going 13-0 in Week 1 and Week Zero, so it was only a matter of time before some programs got in the loss column.

Washington State winning at home against Luke Fickell and Wisconsin was somewhat surprising, and Arizona gave Mississippi State a run for its money on the road before losing in overtime.

The finale was USC’s crushing victory over Stanford, 56-10, in a game where Caleb Williams played only the first half.

Here are the updated Pac-12 football standings after two full weeks of action:

One central dynamic will shape the 2023 Pac-12 football season

We joined @TrojanConquests and @LBCTrojan to explore the nuances of the 2023 #Pac12 football schedule.

The biggest games of the Pac-12 football season aren’t hard to identify: USC-Utah, USC-Washington, USC-Oregon, Washington-Oregon, and others. However, there’s a bigger point to make about the schedule as a whole. If you look at the top four (projected) teams’ schedules, one detail stands out very sharply.

You will notice that among USC, Utah, Washington, and Oregon — the four teams likely to be in the top four of the Pac-12 preseason media poll, not to mention the national polls — all four teams play each other this season. No one escapes the other. USC did not play either Oregon or Washington last year.

Essentially, then, the top four (projected) teams in the Pac-12 will each have three games against the others. Any team which goes 3-0 in these three games is a virtual lock for the Pac-12 Championship Game. Teams which go 2-1 are highly likely to get in. Teams which go 1-2 or worse are almost certain to miss the trip to Las Vegas in December.

We talked about this detail and other nuances of the Pac-12 schedule on Trojan Conquest Live with Tim Prangley and Rick Anaya at The Voice of College Football:

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The most important Pac-12 football games for each team in 2023

.@Ducks_Wire identified each #Pac12 team’s biggest game. See what Ducks Wire chose. We have our own selections.

The middle of summer is when college football fans and bloggers study the schedule and see which teams and conferences have tougher or easier rides. July is a month made for schedule analysis, and that’s precisely what Don Smalley of Ducks Wire did in his article on the most important games for each Pac-12 football program in 2023.

Because some rivalry games are the most important game for both teams, there will be some repeat selections in Smalley’s list. Because of that replication, we’re adding some of our own selections which differ from Smalley — not because we think he is wrong (this is all opinion and personal viewpoint), but because there are other games which need to be spotlighted.

We’ll start with Ducks Wire’s selections and then move into our own (added) choices for the biggest games of Pac-12 football in 2023, the last fully year in which USC and UCLA will be members of the Pac-12 Conference:

Oregon State will be tested early in the Pac-12

The Oregon State Beavers have a tough beginning and end to their Pac-12 schedule in 2023. A Friday (short week) game vs. Utah is particulary difficult.

The Oregon State Beavers were arguably the biggest surprise in Pac-12 football this past year. Head coach Jonathan Smith was named the Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year with Washington’s Kalen DeBoer.

The Beavers then added Clemson transfer QB D.J. Uiagalelei, and things are looking good in Corvallis.

Unfortunately, the schedule makers did the Beavers no favors when the 2023 schedule was released last week. Jon Wilner of The Mercury News gave a few notes.

“The start and finish to league play are daunting,” Wilner wrote. “The Beavers open with a trip to Washington State, then host Utah; and they finish with Washington at home and a visit to Oregon. In between, there is no cause for alarm for a program coming off a 10-win season. Even the back-to-back road games (Colorado and Arizona) are manageable. And what’s more, they follow a bye.”

The Beavers begin with Washington State and Utah, and the end is Washington and Oregon. That’s a tough stretch.

They do play Colorado and Arizona on the road, although both of those programs appear to be much-improved in 2023, especially the Buffaloes.

The Beavers won 10 games and won the Las Vegas Bowl against Florida, so there is a lot of hope once again in Corvallis. Let’s see if the Beavers can put together another strong season.

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What we told Ducks Wire about the Pac-12 football schedule, George Kliavkoff, and USC

When we talked to @Ducks_Wire earlier this week, we made the point that George Kliavkoff was doing something rational and expected. This should not be controversial.

People are reacting strongly to our claim that USC got a rough break with the Pac-12 football schedule. That’s not a surprise.

What’s more surprising is that a lot of the people responding to our piece on the Pac-12 schedule are not even willing to admit that George Kliavkoff had real-world economic and political incentives to push out an Oregon-friendly schedule which doesn’t give USC the same smooth path.

To be clear: Oregon’s schedule isn’t “easy” on a larger, objective level. With Utah and Washington and Oregon State all being very good teams, the Pac-12 is going to be tough to win for any of its title contenders. No schedule is “easy” in terms of being able to go 11-1 or 12-0.

However, some schedules are easier than others when compared side by side. Little details in terms of off weeks, road trips, short weeks (Friday night games), and the alignment of games can matter in affecting the trajectory of a team’s season.

In 2022, USC received those breaks. In 2023, the Trojans did not.

In 2022, USC was the school George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 really needed to keep happy. Unfortunately, the Trojans had their sights set on the Big Ten, and as we noted, there probably was nothing George Kliavkoff could have done about it.

Notably, though, the 2022 schedule was very favorable to USC. The effort was made to make the Trojans happy. This was and is still obvious.

Now, with USC out the door and heading for the Big Ten, the political and economic calculus for the Pac-12 is different. Making Oregon — not USC — happy is the key goal.

This schedule reflects an effort to do that.

This isn’t complicated.

Let’s keep this point in mind: It’s not monstrous or despicable or anything of the sort for the Pac-12 to give USC a less friendly schedule and Oregon a more friendly schedule. We can all be adults and admit that the Pac-12 should have done that.

Why can’t others admit the same?

We talked to Ducks Wire editor Zachary Neel on his podcast earlier this week. At Ducks Wire, Zac took down notes and published what we told him.

Here’s an excerpt of our comments to Zac:

“First off, if you’re George Kliavkoff, you want to be more generous to Oregon and Washington. Just in terms of the politics, you would want to throw a bone to the teams that are staying in your conference, and not to the ones that are leaving. So it’s not as if Kliavkoff is an idiot for smoothing the road for Oregon and Washington by giving them both an off-week before their big meeting. USC doesn’t have an off-week before playing Washington or Oregon; USC has to play Washington and Oregon back to back,” we noted.

“That’s not the worst part of this for USC, though. The worst part is that in odd-numbered years, USC has to play Notre Dame in South Bend in mid-October. If you’re a USC fan, the one thing they wanted out of this schedule was ‘don’t give us a top-tier Pac-12 opponent — Utah, Washington, Oregon — don’t give us one of those three opponents either the week before or the week after Notre Dame. Well, the Pac-12 gave them Utah the week after Notre Dame. That was the flip-the-bird moment, and that’s really the centerpiece of why the Pac-12 shoved USC out the door angrily and didn’t give USC a decent shake.”

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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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Who has the toughest 2023 schedule in the Pac-12 conference?

There’s been a lot of complaining about who has the toughest schedule in the Pac-12 for 2023. We decided to break it down and see who really should feel like they got slighted.

No matter who you play or when you play them, there’s one constant every year when the Pac-12 football schedule is announced: Fans will complain about how tough a draw they ended up getting.

A team could play all 12 games at home and the fans would still find a way to complain about the order in which the games are played. This annual bellyaching took place on Wednesday. The Pac-12 released the full schedules, giving us the blueprint for one of the most anticipated seasons in recent memor, and a year that will undoubtedly be entertaining.

So are the complaints warranted? USC gets a cushy bye in Week 13 before the Pac-12 Championship game, but do they still have enough reason to think that George Kliavkoff gave them a raw end of the deal? What about Oregon, or Washington? Do tough stretches of games in October and November rise to the level of unfairness?

In a minute, you’ll see that the answer is no, and simply that with the Pac-12 as strong as it is expected to be in 2023, every team has a tough schedule.

We wanted to go through, game by game, and rank everything, though, taking a look at which teams have it the worst, and which teams have no business complaining about their outlook at all. Here are the 2023 Pac-12 schedule rankings, from easiest, to most difficult.

We can all be adults here and admit that George Kliavkoff is being a smart, savvy Pac-12 commish

If you were #Pac12 commissioner right now, you would have catered to #Oregon — not #USC — in crafting your football schedule. Even @Ducks_Wire would agree.

Let’s be adults here, folks. Let’s be grownups. Let’s be mature individuals and admit the simple truth. It’s okay. It’s not a sign of weakness to admit what we can all see in the room: The Pac-12 very clearly catered to the University of Oregon in crafting and approving of its 2023 conference football schedule. The conference was just as clear and transparent in not catering to the University of Southern California.

We can simply admit this as mature adults, or we can look off to the side and pretend this didn’t happen. It’s your choice.

We don’t have to pretend. We can be honest with ourselves and each other and see this schedule for what it is.

Let’s be very clear: USC was catered to and given a soft, cushiony ride last year in the 2022 schedule release. The Pac-12 rolled out the red carpet for the Trojans. We never refused to admit that, too.

Then came the move to the Big Ten. Suddenly, USC was no longer valued by George Kliavkoff. Oregon was.

We can just admit this or pretend these considerations are irrelevant. Come on now. Let’s go through the details and simply admit the truth: