USC, UCLA to play weeknight home games in 2013 football season
USC will play a traffic-jam-inducing Thursday night game against Arizona at the Coliseum, UCLA a traffic-snarled Friday night game at the Rose Bowl against Washington.
UCLA plays back-breaking road games at Stanford and Oregon on consecutive October weekends, and USC skips Oregon and Washington.
Those scenarios and others were revealed Thursday when the Pac-12 Conference released its 2013 football schedule.
USC will play 13 regular-season games because its Aug. 29 opener is at Hawaii. NCAA rules allow teams to play an extra game if one is in Hawaii.
USC, coming off a 7-6 season, has seven home games, including nonconference games in September against Boston College and Utah State. The Trojans also play Oct. 19 at Notre Dame, nine days after they play host to Arizona in what USC said would be the first non-Thanksgiving Thursday night game at the Coliseum.
USC misses Oregon and Washington as part of the two-year rotation of games against Pacific Northwest schools. The Trojans play host to Washington State in a Pac-12 opener on Sept. 7 and will play at Oregon State on Friday, Nov. 1.
UCLA, which finished 9-5 in 2012, plays six home games.
The Bruins open against Nevada on Aug. 31 and then have a week off before traveling to Nebraska. The Bruins’ final nonconference game is Sept. 21 against New Mexico State.
UCLA opens Pac-12 play at Utah on Thursday, Oct. 3, before playing host to California and new Coach Sonny Dykes’ “air-raid” offense.
The Bruins then travel to defending conference champion Stanford on Oct. 19 and to Fiesta Bowl champion Oregon on Oct. 26.
UCLA plays Washington on Friday, Nov. 15.
USC and UCLA conclude their regular seasons on Nov. 30 at the Coliseum.
Kickoff times and television information for all games is to be determined.
The Pac-12 championship game, which has been played on a Friday night, moves to Saturday, Dec. 7, and will be played at the home stadium of the division champion with the better conference record.
2013 Schedules:
| USC | UCLA |
| Aug. 29 (Thursday) at Hawaii | Aug. 31 Nevada |
| Sept. 7 Washington State | Sept. 7 OFF |
| Sept. 14 Boston College | Sept. 14 at Nebraska |
| Sept. 21 Utah State | Sept. 21 New Mexico State |
| Sept. 28 at Arizona State | Sept. 28 OFF |
| Oct. 10 (Thursday) Arizona | Oct. 3 (Thursday) at Utah |
| Oct. 19 at Notre Dame | Oct. 19 at Stanford |
| Oct. 26 Utah | Oct. 26 at Oregon |
| Nov. 1 (Friday) at Oregon State | Nov. 2 Colorado |
| Nov. 9 at California | Nov. 9 at Arizona |
| Nov. 16 Stanford | Nov. 15 (Friday) Washington |
| Nov. 23 at Colorado | Nov. 23 Arizona State |
| Nov. 30 UCLA | Nov. 30 at USC |
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