The tentative schedule for next year is set for the entire Pac-12, at least as far as dates goes, the earliest it has ever been set. Beaver Nation can start to plan their tail-gaters and road trips before most of this seasons are even over.
Oregon St. will play 6 home games and 6 road games in 2015, with 2 Friday games, including the Civil War. Notably, the Beavers avoid any Thursday night games.
We knew the preseason schedule already, which begins with the home opener against Weber St. of the Big Sky on Sept. 5 4, a Friday. The next Saturday, Sept. 12, is the trip to the Big House in Ann Arbor, to play Michigan, the same weekend that Oregon travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan St. Could make booking a flight interesting.
The non-conference schedule winds up with a home game on Sept 19, when the Beavers host San Jose St.
The conference campaign begins at home, with a rare one of three Friday games this season against Stanford. It's just the second conference game of the year, but also the second conference road game in less than a week for the Cardinal, who also play the first Pac-12 game of the season at USC the preceding Saturday.
Considering the Cardinal will later get UCLA, Oregon and Washington all at home, Stanford could conceivably have a strangle hold on the North Division before most of the conference ever plays a league game. Or, given one of the toughest opening 2 games any team in the conference has ever faced, with less than a week between the road games, the Cardinal could already be all but eliminated from contention for the Pac-12 Championship Game, which will again be played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, on either Friday, Dec. 4 or Saturday, Dec. 5.
Oregon St. gets their only bye of the season the following week, which would have been a long week anyway, before hitting the road for back to back away games, in Tucson to play Arizona on Oct. 10, and then to Pullman to take on Washington St. on Oct. 17. This will be the "clear the state" weekend, as Oregon visits Washington the same day.
The Beavers will then play their first Saturday game at Reser in October in about 2 years, hosting Colorado on Oct. 24. 2015 will be the 3rd year in a row that Oregon St. will only play 1 home game in October.
Oregon St. will celebrate Halloween in Salt Lake City, taking on Utah on Oct. 31, and then return home to host UCLA on Nov. 7.
It's back on the road Nov. 14 at California, and then the final home game of the year, on Nov. 21 when Washington comes to Corvallis.
The Civil War on Friday, Nov. 27 wraps up the regular season, and the day after Thanksgiving is again a Northwest Double Header, with the Apple Cup in Seattle on Friday as well.
Oregon St. misses Arizona St. and USC the next 2 seasons.
Other than the Civil War, Oregon and Oregon St. will play on the same day in the same state 6 other times, but only 3 of those will be in the state of Oregon.
In addition to the trips to Michigan and Washington, both the Beavers and the Ducks will both be in the Bay Area the same weekend in mid-November, as has been the norm in recent seasons, making it a busy Friday and Sunday on I-5.
In state I-5 congestion is a possibility on opening weekend, and also on the 3rd weekend of the season, when both Oregon St. and Oregon have home non-conference contests, but it won't happen again until November, when UCLA visits Oregon St. and California comes to Oregon on the same day.
The potential killer traffic jam of the year will be the weekend before Thanksgiving, though, with the Huskies at Reser and the Trojans at Autzen.
One of the biggest scheduling oddities is once again caused by Notre Dame, which will visit Stanford on Nov. 28. That isn't the direct problem, as California refuses to play Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend, so the not terribly "Big" game would have been the prior weekend anyway, but the Bears need an opponent, and so they will play a home game the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and it will be Arizona St., which means the Territorial Cup will not be the last game of the regular season for the Sun Devils, and the 'Cats will not get a bye week, playing 12 consecutive weeks, and then being done with their regular season before Thanksgiving rolls around.
In another oddity, the "Rocky Mountain Rumble" between Colorado and Colorado St. will not be on opening weekend for the first time in a number of years. It will still be at the neutral site in Denver, but will be on the 3rd weekend of the season instead, on Sept. 19.
Other notable contests include Arizona St. taking on Texas A&M on opening Saturday at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Michigan visiting Utah on opening Thursday, Sept. 3, and Thursday night games on 4 consecutive Thursday nights in October, starting with Washington at USC on Oct. 8, followed by UCLA at Stanford on Oct. 15., California at UCLA on Oct. 22, making the Bruins we believe the first conference team to ever play conference games on consecutive Thursdays, and then Oregon at Arizona St. on Oct. 29.
Here's Oregon St.'s complete schedule:
Sept. 5 4 Weber St. (non-conference)
Sept. 12 at Michigan (non-conference)
Sept. 19 San Jose St. (non-conference)
Sept. 25 Stanford (Friday)
Oct. 3 Bye
Oct. 10 at Arizona
Oct. 17 at Washington St.
Oct. 24 Colorado
Oct. 31 at Utah
Nov. 7 UCLA
Nov. 14 at California
Nov. 21 Washington
Nov. 27 at Oregon (Friday)
Here's the complete Pac-12 schedule:
Thurs., Sept. 3
UT-San Antonia at Arizona
Michigan at Utah
Fri., Sept. 4
Washington at Boise St.
Weber St. at Oregon St.
Sat., Sept. 5
Arizona St. at Texas A&M at Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Arkansas State at USC
Virginia at UCLA
Colorado at Hawai'i
Eastern Washington at Oregon
Portland St. at Washington St.
Grambling at California
Stanford at Northwestern
Sat., Sept. 12
Arizona at Nevada
Cal Poly at Arizona St.
Idaho at USC
UCLA at UNLV
UMass at Colorado
Utah State at Utah
Oregon at Michigan St.
Oregon St. at Michigan
Sacramento St. at Washington
Washington St. at Rutgers
San Diego St. at California
Central Florida at Stanford
Sat,. Sept. 19
Northern Arizona at Arizona
New Mexico at Arizona St.
Stanford at USC
BYU at UCLA
Colorado vs. Colorado State at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium, Denver, CO
Utah at Fresno State
Georgia State at Oregon
San Jose State at Oregon St.
Utah St. at Washington
Wyoming at Washington St.
California at Texas
Fri., Sept. 25
Stanford at Oregon St.
Sat., Sept. 26
UCLA at Arizona
USC at Arizona St.
Nicholls St. at Colorado
Utah at Oregon
California at Washington
Sat., Oct. 3
Arizona at Stanford
Arizona St. at UCLA
Oregon at Colorado
Washington St. at California
Thurs., Oct. 8
Washington at USC
Sat., Oct. 10
Oregon St. at Arizona
Colorado at Arizona St.
California at Utah
Washington St. at Oregon
Thurs., Oct. 15
UCLA at Stanford
Sat., Oct. 17
Arizona at Colorado
Arizona St. at Utah
USC at Notre Dame
Oregon at Washington
Oregon St. at Washington St.
Thurs., Oct. 22
California at UCLA
Sat., Oct. 24
Washington St. at Arizona
Utah at USC
Colorado at Oregon St.
Washington at Stanford
Thurs. Oct. 29
Oregon at Arizona St.
Sat., Oct. 31
Arizona at Washington
USC at California
Colorado at UCLA
Oregon St. at Utah
Stanford at Washington St.
Sat., Nov. 7
Arizona at USC
Arizona St. at Washington St.
UCLA at Oregon St.
Stanford at Colorado
Utah at Washington
California at Oregon
Fri., Nov. 13
USC at Colorado
Sat., Nov. 14
Utah at Arizona
Washington at Arizona St.
Washington St. at UCLA
Oregon at Stanford
Oregon St. at California
Sat., Nov. 21
Arizona at Arizona St.
USC at Oregon
UCLA at Utah
Colorado at Washington St.
Washington at Oregon St.
California at Stanford
Fri., Nov. 27
Oregon St. at Oregon
Washington St. at Washington
Sat., Nov. 28
Arizona St. at California
UCLA at USC
Colorado at Utah
Notre Dame at Stanford
Fri., Dec. 4 or Sat., Dec. 5
Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA (ESPN)
For reference, here's the table for the conference schedule rotation, to see who misses who the next 4 years.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com