Pac-12 Football: What to Know About the 2023 Schedule

The Pac-12 has officially unveiled its 2023 football schedule, releasing the full slate for all 12 teams on Wednesday. The league’s final season with USC and UCLA as members will kick off with the Trojans facing San Jose State on Aug. 26 in Week Zero and conclude on Friday, Dec. 1 with the conference championship game.

The 2023 season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory in the Pac-12. Utah, which has won the league each of the past two seasons, is set to bring back starting quarterback Cameron Rising. Likewise, Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams is back at USC, Michael Penix Jr. will once again headline Washington’s offensive attack and Bo Nix will play a final season at Oregon. All of those teams should have a good chance of being ranked among the Top 25 to start the season, as well as Oregon State, which brought in Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei at quarterback after a 10-win 2022 campaign. Plus, don’t forget about UCLA, which signed five-star quarterback Dante Moore to lead Chip Kelly’s offense, or Colorado, which made the splashiest move of the offseason when it hired Deion Sanders as head coach.

Now that the schedule has been released, what are the key takeaways, tidbits and things to know for the 2023 Pac-12 season?

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 Pac-12 schedule.

Pac-12 Football: What to Know About the 2023 Schedule

Week Zero Matchup On Tap to Start the Season

Only one Pac-12 team will play in August, although we now know that Colorado and Arizona State tried to do so. USC will face San Jose State on Saturday, Aug. 26. The early start to the season will mean an extra bye week for the Trojans, although they will still face a stretch with nine games in as many weeks. USC’s first bye will be on the weekend of Sept. 16, and the second will be the final weekend of the regular season, which could come in handy if the Trojans qualify for the Pac-12 Championship Game for the second season in a row.

Coach Prime Era Kicks Off With a Bang

There will be no easing into FBS action for Sanders. His Colorado team will open the season on the road against national runner-up TCU on Sept. 2. The following week, the Buffaloes will face their old Big 12 rival, Nebraska, at home before the annual in-state rivalry matchup against Colorado State. Oh by the way, after that trio of games, Colorado will open Pac-12 play at Oregon and against USC, arguably the two toughest conference games on its schedule. Sanders and his new-look team will have an opportunity to prove very quickly how well they can compete at this level.

Related: Early Pac-12 Predictions for 2023

Defending Champion Utah Will Be Tested Early and Often

Aside from Colorado, only one other Pac-12 team is set to play two Power 5 opponents during its non-conference schedule. That would be Utah, whose credentials to three-peat as league champions will be tested early. The Utes are scheduled to open the season against Florida in Salt Lake City. Utah will try to avenge its season-opening loss to the Gators from the 2022 season. The following week, Kyle Whittingham’s squad will travel to Baylor. The Utes do get a reprieve after that in the form of a buy game against FCS Weber State before starting a tough Pac-12 slate that includes every program in the league aside from Stanford and Washington State.

USC Done No Favors

Let the conspiracy theories begin. It would be difficult to make the argument that any Pac-12 team will face a stretch as challenging as USC’s from Weeks 7-12. Whether that simply coincides with the Trojans’ final season in the conference or represents an intentional parting gift from commissioner George Kliavkoff is up for debate. After facing Arizona State, Colorado and Arizona following its first idle weekend of the season, USC will play its annual rivalry matchup against Notre Dame on Oct. 14. That game, in South Bend, kicks off a six-week stretch during which the Trojans face five teams who finished the 2022 season ranked in the AP Top 25. After playing Notre Dame, USC will try to avenge its two 2022 losses to Utah, then will travel to face a California team that pushed it last fall. The Trojans close the regular season against Washington, at Oregon, and against UCLA. As noted above, the team’s second bye week at the end of the regular season would be huge if it can qualify for the Pac-12 Championship Game. But USC is going to have to earn its way there.

USC-UCLA Rivalry Moved Up a Week

The fact that USC will be idle during the final week of the regular season was presumably done to avoid giving the Trojans an unfair advantage over any of their peers during conference play. A byproduct of that will be the annual rivalry matchup between USC and UCLA being played on Nov. 18, in the penultimate week of the season and the week prior to the traditional Rivalry Week. That’s nothing new for this series, though, with the two teams often squaring off a week or two prior to Thanksgiving in seasons past.

Intriguing Non-Conference Matchups Set for Week 2

The college football slate can often go stale in Week 2, with a lot of Power 5 programs pivoting to buy games following more flashy season-openers. That will not be the case in the Pac-12 this year. The second Saturday of the season features nine of the league’s teams playing Power 5 opponents, with two of those being Stanford and USC, who are set to face one another in the first conference game of the year. On Sept. 9, Arizona will play Mississippi State, Arizona State will face Oklahoma State, California will host Auburn, Colorado will square off with Nebraska, Oregon will host Texas Tech, Utah will travel to Baylor and Washington State will play Wisconsin. That doesn’t even include a potentially juicy matchup between UCLA and San Diego State, which has gone 19-8 the past two seasons under Brady Hoke. Fans of the conference will want to make sure they don’t have any chores that day.

Washington's Tough Closing Stretch

The Huskies have emerged as a trendy pick to win the Pac-12 with quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who led the nation in passing in his first season with the team, back for another year. They come in at No. 10 in Athlon Sports' Way-Too-Early Top 25. But Kalen DeBoer’s team will need to be playing its best football at the right time in order to earn a spot in the conference championship game. In the final four weeks of the regular season, Washington will face USC on the road, then Utah at home, and Oregon State in Corvallis. All of those teams are ranked among Athlon's top 20. The Huskies will then close the season against rival Washington State in the Apple Cup.

Oregon-Washington Set For Oct. 14.

Speaking of the Huskies, they’re party to the Pac-12’s best non-end-of-season rivalry in the form of their annual matchup against Oregon. This year’s contest between the two teams is set for Week 7 — Saturday, Oct. 14. Last year’s game will be tough to top, with Washington scoring a late touchdown to win 37-34, but this year’s meeting in Tacoma should be a good one, as well. The Ducks are slotted at No. 11 in Athlon's Way-Too-Early rankings, one spot behind the Huskies.

Midweek Games

The Pac-12 slate includes several games that will, or at least could, be played on Thursday or Friday nights. The most notable of those is the conference championship game, which will be played on a Friday for the second season in a row. Other weekday games include a potential trio in Week 1. Arizona State will kick off the Kenny Dillingham era against FCS Southern Utah on Thursday, Aug. 31, while Stanford will play the first game of new head coach Troy Taylor’s tenure the following night at Hawaii. This year’s rematch between Utah and Florida has also been designated as a game that could be played either on Thursday, Aug. 31 or Saturday, Sept. 2. Colorado will play a pair of weeknight games, with the Buffaloes set to face Stanford on Friday, Oct. 13 and Washington State on Friday, Nov. 17. Utah and Oregon State will play on a Friday, as well, in what should be a tasty matchup on Sept. 29. Finally, the Week 6 clash between Arizona and USC has been denoted as a game that could be played either Friday, Oct. 6 or the following Saturday.

Black Friday Civil War

We didn’t include one Friday night game in the above list because it stands out from the rest. Oregon and Oregon State’s annual rivalry matchup will be played on Nov. 24, Black Friday. The rivalry formerly known as the Civil War is always entertaining, and with both the Ducks and the Beavers ranked in our Way-Too-Early Top 25, this year’s rendition should be worthy of a prime-time television spot. Oregon and Oregon State have played on a Friday night in the past, most recently during the 2020 season.

Arizona State Making Itself at Home

Kenny Dillingham will have one thing going for him to start his first season as a head coach: He won’t have to leave Tempe for the first month of the season. Arizona State is scheduled to play each of its first four games of the season at Sun Devil Stadium. That includes its three non-conference matchups — against FCS Southern Utah, Oklahoma State and Fresno State — and its league opener against USC. The Sun Devils are the only team in the conference to go that long without a road game at any point in the season. Stanford’s Troy Taylor, meanwhile, will have the opposite start to his tenure, with the Cardinal being the only team in the league to open the season with consecutive road games. Stanford will travel to USC in Week 2 after opening the season at Hawaii.

Conference Championship Game back in Las Vegas

For the third season in a row, the Pac-12 Championship Game will be played in Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. Will it also be Utah celebrating at the conclusion of the contest for the third consecutive season? Check back on Dec. 1 to find out. Related: Consider this your annual reminder that the Pac-12 did away with divisions starting last season, so it will be the top two teams in the league standings who face off in Las Vegas.

Opponents Missed For 2023