Schedule looks favorable for Trojans

The Pac-12 announced its football schedules for 2021 on Tuesday, and there were a few reasons for USC to be happy with its slate for the coming season.

The Trojans will not play Oregon or Washington, winners of the last three Pac-12 North titles. USC will not play a Friday game all season for the first time since 2009. And the Trojans only have one set of back-to-back road games, in November.

USC starts the year with two home games, first against San Jose State on Sept. 4 and then the Pac-12 opener against Stanford on Sept. 11. The Trojans then alternate road and home games, starting Sept. 18 at Washington State, followed by hosting Oregon State, away at Colorado and hosting Utah.

After a bye in Week 7, USC will travel to Notre Dame for the renewal of the rivalry game interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trojans then host Arizona on Oct. 30 before backto-back road games at Arizona State and at California.

USC closes the season with two home games. On Nov. 20, the Trojans will host UCLA in the Pac-12 finale for USC before finishing out the regular season on Nov. 27 against BYU.

All said, the schedule seems to set the Trojans up nicely for 2021. USC has a lighter non-division schedule within conference play, the trip to Colorado in early October.

The non-conference schedule is tricky. Notre Dame made the College Football Playoff in 2020 and BYU went 11-1 last season. But the Trojans will get an extra week to prepare for the Irish, and BYU lost several key contributors, including quarterback Zach Wilson, to the NFL Draft.

The Trojans lost plenty of talent this off-season, too, from Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Talanoa Hufanga to standout receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns.

But after Tuesday’s reveal, USC will have its chances to win a second straight Pac12 South title, without any adversity courtesy of the schedule makers.