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With Spring Practices over, it is officially time to look toward the 2015 college football season. As a Bruins site, we not only want to keep you afloat with all the latest news from UCLA football, but also that of they conference they reside in… The Pac-12 Conference. With that, we start our summer-long analysis of college football starting with the Pac-12 Football Schedules.
Though we will be analyzing the teams and their schedules every which way to Sunday, this article will bring you up to speed with the games all 12 conference teams will be playing. We give you some of the things that stand out about the Pac-12 football schedules as well as tell you who has an advantage with strength of schedule from all 12 teams.
Here are the schedules (week 1-13) divided into two parts: the North Division and the South Division:
Pac-12 Football Schedules: North Division
Pac-12 Football Schedules: South Division
Dates of The Weeks
Because college football is expanding to Thursday and Friday night games remembering the dates can be a bit confusing, which is why the schedules above are labeled by week. Here are the dates of each Saturday of that week and note that if a game is on a Thursday or Friday, it will be the day or two before the date listed.
Week 1: Sept 5 – Week 2: Sept 12 – Week 3: Sept 19
Week 4: Sept. 26 – Week 5: Oct. 3 – Week 6: Oct. 10
Week 7: Oct. 17 – Week 8: Oct. 24 – Week 9: Oct. 31
Week 10: Nov. 7 – Week 11: Nov. 14 – Week 12: Nov. 21 – Week 13: Nov 28
Non-Saturday Games
Speaking of games that are not going to be played on Saturday, the Pac-12 is at it again with their weekday schedule. Here we see every single game that will be played on a Thursday or Friday. Week 1 has the most which will kick-off the college football season with four games.
UCLA Bruins
Week 1: UTSA at Arizona (Thur.), Michigan at Utah (Thur.), Weber State at Oregon State (Fri.), Washington at Boise State (Fri.)
Week 1: Colorado at Hawaii (Fri.)
Week 2: Utah State at Utah (Fri.)
Week 3: New Mexico at Arizona State (Fri.)
Week 4: Stanford at Oregon State (Fri.)
Week 6: Washington at USC (Thur.)
Week 7: UCLA at Stanford (Thur.)
Week 8: Cal at UCLA (Thur.)
Week 9: Oregon at Arizona State (Thur.)
Week 11: USC at Colorado (Fri.),
Week 13: Oregon State at Oregon (Fri.), Washington State at Washington (Fri.)
zzzAug 29, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado State Rams running back Dee Hart (10) leaps over tight end Nolan Peralta (32) and Colorado Buffaloes defensive end Derek McCartney (95) in the second quarter at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Neutral Site Games
If branding the Pac-12 as a featured weekday game was not enough, here are a couple of games that will help that branding as they will be played at a neutral site.
Week 1: Arizona State vs Texas A&M at NRG Stadium
Week 2: Colorado vs Colorado St. at Sports Authority Field at Mile High
Nov 1, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan (8) runs the ball against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
Marquee Pac-12 Match-Ups
Betsided
Week 3: Stanford at USC
Week 4: Utah at Oregon
Week 5: Arizona State at Stanford
Week 7: UCLA at Stanford
Week 8: Utah at USC
Week 9: Arizona at Washington
Week 11: Oregon at Stanford
Week 12: USC at Oregon, Arizona at Arizona State, UCLA at Utah
Week 13: UCLA at USC
Playing The FCS
In the era of the College Football Playoff, you would think teams would be searching for tough match-ups every week. Well that trend is not going away as fast as we hoped because 8 of the Pac-12 teams have scheduled games with FCS teams.
The only teams that do not play an FCS team this season: UCLA, USC, Stanford and Utah.
Sep 20, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Utah Utes wide receiver Tim Patrick (9) runs the ball against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Strength of Scheduling
Speaking of strength of schedule, bravo to those teams that have gone out and scheduled games that will get the attention of the College Football Playoff Committee. Let us take a look at some of the talent the Pac-12 will be facing this year (aside from the annually scheduled games like USC vs Notre Dame).
Week 1: Washington at Boise St, ASU vs Texas A&M, Utah vs Michigan
Week 2: Oregon at Michigan St, Oregon St at Michigan
Week 3: Cal at Texas,
Dec 31, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon (12) hands off to running back Nick Wilson (28) during the first half in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl at Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Go And Do Not Stop!
Arizona and Colorado may have one of the toughest schedules in the conference, yet it has nothing to do with their opponent. Starting from Week 1, the Wildcats and the Buffaloes will play straight through their season without a bye week. Colorado has it a bit tougher as they play 13 games this season because they get one extra for traveling to Hawaii. All other Pac-12 teams are playing 12 regular season games.
Getting An Early Start To Conference Season
USC and Stanford once again get to battle it out in the first conference game of the season as these two power teams meet in Week 3 at the Coliseum. Last year, both teams started the conference season off with a stalemate that the Trojans won by a field goal, 13-10. This game should be a little bit more interesting.
Is it September, yet?