USC Football 2023 Schedule Announced

The 2023 football schedule for the USC Trojans was announced by the Pac-12 on Wednesday morning. Head coach Lincoln Riley and his squad now know what their potential path to the Pac-12 Championship Game and College Football Playoff looks like.

USC has seven home games and five road trips in 2023, just as the Trojans have had the past two seasons. The Pac-12 schedule rotation changes this season across the conference. For USC, that means Oregon State and Washington State are replaced by Oregon and Washington. The biennial mid-October road trip to South Bend is here again and USC will finish its regular season by hosting UCLA at the Coliseum.

USC’s Week 0 game means the Trojans will get two bye weeks this season. The first comes after a three-game homestand and the second comes between the end of the regular season and the Pac-12 Championship Game. USC hopes it needs to utilize the second one in order to get ready for the game in Las Vegas. The last time USC had its bye week scheduled between the final regular season game and the conference championship game was 2017. That year, the Trojans went 10-2 during the regular season and beat Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Week 0

The Trojans will open the season a week earlier than usual. USC will host San Jose State on Aug. 26, a rare Week 0 game for the Trojans. That SJSU game was scheduled when BYU backed out of a game scheduled for Nov. 25, 2023 against USC due to the Cougars’ move to the Big 12. It will be a very small slate of Week 0 games, with USC and Notre Dame at this point looking like the only big names to take the stage. The Trojans will have plenty of national attention for this home-opener.

USC is 5-0 all-time against San Jose State. The Trojans beat the Spartans 30-7 to open the 2021 season.

Opening Homestand

USC will open the 2023 schedule with three-straight home games. Following the opener against San Jose State, USC will host Nevada on Sept. 2 and then Stanford on Sept. 9.

Despite the proximity, this will be USC’s first game against Nevada since 1929. The Trojans are 5-0 all-time against the Wolf Pack.

Stanford is looking to turn things around under new head coach Troy Taylor.

The Mid-Season Slate

Following a bye on Sept. 16, USC will play at Arizona State on Sept. 23, travel to Colorado on Sept. 30, host Arizona on Oct. 6 or 7 and travel to Notre Dame on Oct. 14.

The game at Colorado is intriguing due to the arrival of new head coach Deion Sanders and a host of transfer portal talent.

The home game date against Arizona is to be determined at this point. It will either be a Friday game on Oct. 6 or a Saturday game on Oct. 7.

Neither USC nor Notre Dame will have a bye before their matchup this season.

A Tough Finish

USC has a difficult finish to its 2023 schedule. And that’s putting it mildly.

After traveling to Notre Dame, the Trojans will turn right around and host Utah on Oct. 21 before a road trip to Cal the following weekend

The Trojans will host Washington on Nov. 4, then travel to take on Oregon on Nov. 11 and return home to host rival UCLA on Nov 18. Arguably USC’s five toughest opponents are crammed into the final six games of the season without a bye week between any of them.

Complete 2023 USC Football Schedule

(Home Games in Bold)

Aug. 26 – San Jose State
Sept. 2 – Nevada
Sept. 9 – Stanford
Sept. 16 – BYE
Sept. 23 – @ Arizona State
Sept. 30 – @ Colorado
Oct. 6/7 – Arizona (potential Friday game)
Oct. 14 – @ Notre Dame
Oct. 21 – Utah
Oct. 28 – @ Cal
Nov. 4 – Washington
Nov. 11 – @ Oregon
Nov. 18 – UCLA
Nov. 25 – BYE
Dec. 1 (Friday) – Pac-12 Championship Game (Las Vegas)