Tag: Pac-12 schedule

10 major takeaways from the full Pac-12 schedule release

The 2023 Pac-12 football schedule is now live. For the Ducks, it starts out relatively light but gets brutal down the stretch in October and November.

At long last, the entire Pac-12 schedule was released on Wednesday morning during an hour-long unveiling show on the Pac-12 Network.

While we have known for a while which teams everyone in the conference would be playing, the schedule release ultimately gave us the order in which the games would be played, and on what dates. We also got a look at when the Pac-12 Championship Game will be held in Las Vegas, and now have the complete slate of bye weeks as well.

To start, we looked at just the Ducks’ schedule, but there are some interesting things to note for most teams in the Pac-12 when it comes to the 2023 games.

Here are my biggest takeaways from the entire Pac-12 schedule release on Wednesday.

Arizona State Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Arizona State football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Arizona State football schedule 2022: Who does Arizona State miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 Arizona State Football Schedule

Sept 1 Northern Arizona

Sept 10 at Oklahoma State

Sept 17 Eastern Michigan

Sept 24 Utah

Oct 1 at USC

Oct 8 Washington

Oct 15 OPEN DATE

Oct 22 at Stanford

Oct 29 at Colorado

Nov 5 UCLA

Nov 12 at Washington State

Nov 19 Oregon State

Nov 25 at Arizona

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Arizona State Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Sun Devils miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

For a program in turmoil and with one of the most – let’s just say – interesting teams coming back in 2022, there’s nothing that can be taken for granted. However, missing Oregon from the North helps in a big way, and missing Cal might be a big plus, too.

The team from Tempe having to go to Pullman, Washington to face Washington State in mid-November is a problem, but Washington and Oregon State are home games, Going to Stanford after getting a week off isn’t bad, but …

Arizona State Football Schedule What To Know: It could be a rough start, and …

The Sun Devils should be at least 2-1 to start with Northern Arizona and Eastern Michigan wrapped around a trip to Oklahoma State. And then it gets nasty.

Utah, at USC – Arizona State will know where it stands in the South race right away. If that’s not bad enough, the second half of the season isn’t going to be a breeze with a run of three road games in four weeks and with four of the last six games away from home.

Arizona State Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

If everything was rolling and the program had everything in place – losing Jayden Daniels certainly didn’t help – the schedule wouldn’t be that bad.

The road games over the second half of the season are all winnable, and again, missing Oregon helps, it’s still a tough enough overall slate to be a grind considering the reworking that needs to be done.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Colorado Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Colorado football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Colorado football schedule 2022: Who does Colorado miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 Colorado Football Schedule

Sept 2 TCU

Sept 10 at Air Force

Sept 17 at Minnesota

Sept 24 UCLA

Oct 1 at Arizona

Oct 8 OPEN DATE

Oct 15 Cal

Oct 22 at Oregon State

Oct 29 Arizona State

Nov 5 Oregon

Nov 11 at USC

Nov 19 at Washington

Nov 26 Utah

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Colorado Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Buffaloes miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

The Buffaloes don’t get Stanford or Washington State. That might not be a bad deal if the Cardinal ramps things back up after a rough run, but that’s still not quite as nice as it would’ve been to miss Oregon or even Washington.

Going to Washington and Oregon State are going to be tough, but Oregon has to come to Boulder in early November and Cal makes the trip in mid-October.

Colorado Football Schedule What To Know: Where are the sure wins?

Give Colorado credit for not facing a cupcake team to tune up, but there isn’t a sure-thing win on the slate considering it has to travel to Arizona.

TCU is in a rebuilding mode and it’s a home game, but that’s tough. Going to Air Force is nasty, and heaven help us all if the trip to Minnesota is anything like the steamrolling of last year’s Golden Gopher win.

Cal? That might be the one home game Colorado is the favorite, but that’s not a given.

Colorado Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

It would’ve been really, really nice to have a few easy games to start the season to give the team a little time and sure-thing confidence, but …

There’s a flip side. Beat TCU, beat Air Force, and get wins over decent teams that that could be the kickstart the program needs. Even so, November is a bear with the Oregon game followed up with trips to USC and Washington before hosting Utah.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Utah Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Utah football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Utah football schedule 2022: Who does Utah miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 Utah Football Schedule

Sept 3 at Florida

Sept 10 Southern Utah

Sept 17 San Diego State

Sept 24 at Arizona State

Oct 1 Oregon State

Oct 8 at UCLA

Oct 15 USC

Oct 22 OPEN DATE

Oct 29 at Washington State

Nov 5 Arizona

Nov 12 Stanford

Nov 19 at Oregon

Nov 25 at Colorado

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Utah Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Utes miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

It’s not like Utah is going to be all that scared of Oregon after winning with ease in the two meetings last year, but going to Eugene in late November is a problem. Making the trip to Washington State won’t be a breeze, either, and Oregon State and Stanford come to Salt Lake City.

That means the Utes miss both Cal and Washington. Both teams are going to be better this year – not playing them isn’t a bad deal.

Utah Football Schedule What To Know: It’s going to be a tough run

Utah isn’t ducking anyone and it has no problems getting up for the big games, but starting the season out at Florida and hosting San Diego State doesn’t make the non-conference slate as easy as it might need to be. The Southern Utah game is the scrimmage to use as a tune up.

Getting USC at home is a huge help, but going to UCLA, Oregon, Washington State, and Arizona State should all be dangerous. Having five Pac-12 road games hurts.

Utah Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

Never count out Utah no matter what, and three of the four November games are against teams that didn’t go bowling last year, but it’s still a tough slate considering there are only six home games and USC and San Diego State aren’t layups.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Arizona Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Arizona football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Arizona football schedule 2022: Who does Arizona miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 Arizona Football Schedule

Sept 3 at San Diego State

Sept 10 Mississippi State

Sept 17 North Dakota State

Sept 24 at Cal

Oct 1 Colorado

Oct 8 Oregon

Oct 15 at Washington

Oct 22 OPEN DATE

Oct 29 USC

Nov 5 at Utah

Nov 12 at UCLA

Nov 19 Washington State

Nov 25 Arizona State

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Arizona Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Wildcats miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

There aren’t a whole lot of teams in the Pac-12 North that Arizona would too excited to miss, but not getting Oregon State and Stanford is a slight disappointment.

It would’ve been nice to miss Oregon, but that’s a home game in early October. Washington State is on the slate, but at least the Wildcats don’t have to go to Pullman in late November, and playing Washington in Seattle on October 15th and Cal on September 24th shouldn’t matter weather-wise.

Arizona Football Schedule What To Know: Where are the wins?

It’s a rebuilding process in Year Two of the Jedd Fisch era, but … come ON.

Going to San Diego State as the first opponent in the new era of Aztec football – it’s opening up the brand new Snapdragon Stadium – isn’t good. Hosting Mississippi State and North Dakota State isn’t exactly a plus, either.

Considering the non-conference slate, there’s the home game against Colorado. That might be the only game outside of the visit from NDSU that Arizona might be favored in.

Arizona Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

Start with the positives. The Wildcats get a whole lot of teams in Tucson.

After going to San Diego State, four of the next five games are at home, the last two – including Arizona State – is in Arizona Stadium, and the midseason run of three road games in four dates is broken up with a week off.

It’s still going to be a heavy lift to get anywhere close to six wins and bowl eligibility.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

UCLA Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

UCLA football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

UCLA football schedule 2022: Who does UCLA miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 UCLA Football Schedule

Sept 3 Bowling Green

Sept 10 Alabama State

Sept 17 South Alabama

Sept 24 at Colorado

Oct 1 Washington

Oct 8 Utah

Oct 15 OPEN DATE

Oct 22 at Oregon

Oct 29 Stanford

Nov 5 at Arizona State

Nov 12 Arizona

Nov 19 USC

Nov 25 at Cal

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

UCLA Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Bruins miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

UCLA has to play Oregon, and it’s a road game.

At least it has a week off to rest up and get ready, but the away game to Eugene is one of the toughest draws in the South. Missing Oregon State and Washington State isn’t too bad, but Cal should be dangerous, Washington should be better, and Stanford will soon be a lot stronger.

In the South, the Bruins get Utah and USC at home. That sort of makes up for having to go to Oregon.

UCLA Football Schedule What To Know: We’re not exactly extending ourselves, are we, Bruins?

The general rule of thumb is that any Power Five team should have one game against another Power Five team, and a restaurant quality date with some solid Group of Five squad – like a good team from the Mountain West.

Nope.

To be fair, UCLA did play LSU early last year. But seriously …

Bowling Green, Alabama State, South Alabama.

That’s it?! Don’t you like your fans?

UCLA Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for UCLA to have anything but a good year with this schedule.

There are three light scrimmages to ease into the Pac-12 season that begins with two teams – Colorado and Washington – that didn’t go bowling last season.

Try this out. UCLA is playing nine games against teams that didn’t go bowling last season.

Nine.

The only three that did were Utah, Oregon, and Arizona State, and all three lost.

Yeah, USC will be better, and yeah, going to Oregon and Arizona State won’t be layups, but with this slate and one road game before October 22nd, there’s no reason for any concern.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

USC Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

USC football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

USC football schedule 2022: Who does USC miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 USC Football Schedule

Sept 3 Rice

Sept 10 at Stanford

Sept 17 Fresno State

Sept 24 at Oregon State

Oct 1 Arizona State

Oct 8 Washington State

Oct 15 at Utah

Oct 22 OPEN DATE

Oct 29 at Arizona

Nov 5 Cal

Nov 11 Colorado

Nov 19 at UCLA

Nov 25 Notre Dame

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

USC Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Trojans miss from the Pac-12 North Division?

Hey, Pac-12 South teams. Who would you like to miss from the North?

How about Oregon? Okay, done.

Yeah, it struggled last year, but how about Washington, too? You got it.

USC can’t take anyone for granted after the problems of last year, but Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State. If you’re going to miss four teams fro the North, those are probably the ones to bypass this season.

USC Football Schedule What To Know: As if missing Oregon wasn’t enough …

Yes, it’s a tough schedule, and yes, USC isn’t a sure-thing to win at home against the top teams, but all things considered, this isn’t a bad schedule.

The Lincoln Riley era kicks off against Rice, and Fresno State isn’t going to be an easy out, but there’s an overall payoff with how this is set up.

Notre Dame is Notre Dame, but that’s at home in the last game of the regular season.

Going to Utah is tough, but if USC is close to being back to its normal form, a pre-November Pac-12 road slate of Stanford, Oregon State, Utah, and Arizona just isn’t all that bad.

After going to Tucson, USC doesn’t have to leave the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area the rest of the way.

USC Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

USC is getting almost every possible break with this schedule, and it needs to take advantage of it.

Again, with the caveat that not everything or anything is a given with USC quite yet, it should be the relatively easy favorite in every game except for the trip to Utah and the final against the Irish. Maybe throw in the UCLA game, but the team needs to be humming by then.

But just how good is USC going to be?

Throw this schedule to Alabama, or Georgia, or Ohio State and it probably rips through it without breathing hard.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Washington State Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Washington State football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Washington State football schedule 2022: Who does Washington State miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

2022 Washington State Football Schedule

Sept 3 Idaho

Sept 10 at Wisconsin

Sept 17 Colorado State

Sept 24 Oregon

Oct 1 Cal

Oct 8 at USC

Oct 15 at Oregon State

Oct 22 OPEN DATE

Oct 29 Utah

Nov 5 at Stanford

Nov 12 Arizona State

Nov 19 at Arizona

Nov 26 Washington

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Washington State Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Cougars miss from the Pac-12 South Division?

The Cougars don’t have to play UCLA – that’s not bad – but they miss a Colorado team that’s gettable. On the plus side, they get Arizona from the South, but that means they also have to deal with USC, Utah, and Arizona State.

At least the Utes and Sun Devils have to come to Pullman – a team from Tempe, Arizona going to Wazzu in mid-November is a good thing – and going to USC isn’t that bad coming off a long home run.

Washington State Football Schedule What To Know: It’s very, very manageable

Yes, dealing with a road game at Wisconsin is a problem. Yes, going to USC is less than ideal, and following that up with a trip to Oregon State isn’t easy. However, there are only two other road games, and they’re both in November at Stanford and Arizona – that’s not bad.

Outside of the USC and Oregon State games, there aren’t back-to-back road dates, and most of the key teams to deal with have to come to Pullman.

Washington State Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

It’s a schedule to win with.

Four of the first five games at home is a huge help, and getting both Oregon and Washington in Martin Stadium is nice. However, this only works if the Cougars win their home games.

They’re probably not going to be the favorites in at least three of the home dates, and taking out Oregon State on the road is a must, but three of the last four games are against teams that didn’t go bowling last year. Anything less than six wins with this slate isn’t okay.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Washington Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Washington football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Washington football schedule 2022: Who does Washington miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

Washington Football Schedule 2022

Sept 3 Kent State

Sept 10 Portland State

Sept 17 Michigan State

Sept 24 Stanford

Oct 1 at UCLA

Oct 8 at Arizona State

Oct 15 Arizona

Oct 22 at Cal

Oct 29 OPEN DATE

Nov 5 Oregon State

Nov 12 at Oregon

Nov 19 Colorado

Nov 26 at Washington State

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Washington Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Huskies miss from the Pac-12 South Division?

Find a better break in college football than Washington missing both defending Pac-12 champion Utah and USC from the Pac-12 South.

That’s about as nice as it gets, and that means Arizona and Colorado are on the slate – both of those are at home – along with Arizona State and UCLA. Those last two are tough back-to-back road games, but again, that’s not Utah and USC.

Against the North, Washington has to go to Oregon, but it doesn’t leave the state of Washington outside of that after October 22nd. There might be five Pac-12 road games, but again, there’s no USC or Utah – there’s no complaining.

Washington Football Schedule What To Know: Start hot. There’s no excuse.

There’s no given after dropping the opener last year to Montana, but starting the season at home against Kent State and Portland State isn’t bad. Playing Michigan State is rough, but at least that’s in Seattle.

Start with those three games and the Pac-12 opener against Stanford, and the Huskies don’t have to leave home until October 1st.

The payback is with that run of three road games in four weeks and there aren’t two home games in a row after September.

Washington Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

Going to Oregon and Arizona State might make it tough to hope for a trip to the Pac-12 Championship if there’s a quick turnaround, but any team good enough to dream of getting there – and that’s a reasonable hope for a program like this, even after 2021 – should be able to win enough to at least get to the Oregon game with a shot to make a whole lot of noise.

At the very least, there’s no excuse to not go bowling with this slate.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Stanford Football Schedule 2022: 3 Things To Know

Stanford football schedule. The 2022 schedule with 3 things to know

Stanford football schedule 2022: Who does Stanford miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

Stanford Football Schedule 2022

Sept 3 Colgate

Sept 10 USC

Sept 17 OPEN DATE

Sept 24 at Washington

Oct 1 at Oregon

Oct 8 Oregon State

Oct 15 at Notre Dame

Oct 22 Arizona State

Oct 29 at UCLA

Nov 5 Washington State

Nov 12 at Utah

Nov 19 at Cal

Nov 25 BYU

2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Stanford Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Cardinal miss from the Pac-12 South Division?

As it if wasn’t enough of a kick in the teeth to have a schedule full of Power Five teams in 2021, Stanford gets the worst beat in the Pac-12 this year – it misses Arizona and Colorado from the South.

That means the team has to deal with defending Pac-12 champion Utah, USC, Arizona State, and UCLA – the four likely top teams in the South. Worse yet, the Utah and UCLA games are on the road.

If that wasn’t bad enough …

Stanford Football Schedule What To Know: The North isn’t any better

Seriously, Stanford. What did you do to tick off the scheduling gods? Again, last year was brutal enough, and now there’s the problem getting all the top teams against the South, and the conference season opens up against Washington and Oregon … on the road.

The Cal game is on the road, but that’s just up the highway a bit. Oregon State and Washington State as home games is fine, but that means the tougher dates are out of Palo Alto.

Stanford Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

No, seriously, Stanford. Who hates you this much? As if that Pac-12 slate isn’t enough, there’s a trip to Notre Dame to make it three road games in four weeks. If that and the Pac-12 season weren’t enough, the regular season ends against BYU.

It’s going to be a fight to get to six wins. Colgate should be a layup, but there aren’t any sure-thing wins the rest of the way.

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2022 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams