Pac-12 football: Full week-by-week breakdown of 2020 seven-game schedule

Zac Al-Khateeb

Pac-12 football: Full week-by-week breakdown of 2020 seven-game schedule image

The Pac-12 announced its 2020 schedule on Saturday, meaning that — for the the first time since the Big Ten postponed its season on Aug. 11 — college football fans know the schedule for every Power 5 conference.

The conference will be the final among the Power 5 to kick off their season, on Saturday, Nov. 7. To put that in perspective, the Big Ten (Oct. 24 kickoff) will be three games into its 2020 schedule by the time the Pac-12 begins play. Because of the late start, the conference has only enough time for seven games through the final week of the regular season. That leaves no room for error in this COVID-19-affected season — even less than their counterparts in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.

MORE: What to expect from Pac-12's late return

As it stands now, every Pac-12 team is scheduled to play each of its five division opponents, plus another team from the opposing division. Then, the top team from each division will play in the conference championship game on Friday, Dec 18; those teams that don't play for the title will instead play another cross-division opponent, though the conference has not released the criteria for those matchups.

Another point to consider is whether an undefeated, 7-0 Pac-12 team can earn a spot in the College Football Playoff against other undefeated or one-loss teams that would have the advantage of more games played. But those are issues for the Playoff committee to work out on Dec. 20.

Until that time, here are the games the Pac-12 will hope to play each week of the season, all the way through championship week:

Pac-12 2020 schedule

Week 10: Saturday, Nov. 7

Game
Arizona at Utah
Arizona State at USC
Stanford at No. 14 Oregon
UCLA at Colorado
Washington at Cal
Washington State at Oregon State

Big takeaway: Trojans coach Clay Helton begins what could be a pivotal season at USC against Herm Edwards and Arizona State, whom the Trojans beat 31-26 in 2019. It will also be the debuts of first-year coaches Nick Rolovich (Washington State) and Karl Dorrell (Colorado). The Cal-Washington game was canceled on Nov. 5, however, due to Pac-12 protocols that liimited the number of Beras scholarship players below the league minimum.

Week 11: Nov. 13-14

Game
Utah at UCLA (Friday, Nov. 13)
Cal at Arizona State
Colorado at Stanford
No. 14 Oregon at Washington State
Oregon State at Washington
USC at Arizona

Big takeaway: USC and Arizona could feature two coaches on the hot seat, depending on how Week 10 plays out, in Helton and Kevin Sumlin. Defending Pac-12 South champion Utah will take on Chip Kelly and UCLA, who are 7-17 in their two years together.

Week 12: Nov. 20-21

Game
UCLA at No. 14 Oregon (Friday, Nov. 20)
Arizona at Washington
Arizona State at Colorado
Cal at Oregon State
USC at Utah
Washington State at Stanford

Big takeaway: USC and Utah face off in a matchup that should go a long way in determining the Pac-12 South champion for 2020.

Week 13: Nov. 27-28

Game
No. 14 Oregon at Oregon State (Friday, Nov. 27)
Stanford at Cal (Friday, Nov. 27)
Washington at Washington State (Friday, Nov. 27)
Arizona at UCLA
Colorado at USC
Utah at Arizona State

Big Takeaway: Rivalry Week: Even if you go 0-for the remainder of the season, there's nothing like beating your rival. Oregon at Oregon State, Washington at Washington State and Stanford at Cal are the big tickets this week. Arizona State-Utah will also help determine the Pac-12 South.

MORE: Six questions about College Football Playoff after Pac-12's return to play

Week 14: Saturday, Dec. 4-5

Game
Washington State at USC (Friday, Dec. 4)
Colorado at Arizona
UCLA at Arizona State
Stanford at Washington
No. 14 Oregon at Cal
Oregon State at Utah

Big takeaway: Remember in 2017 when Washington State bet previously unbeaten, fifth-ranked USC to deal an early blow to the Trojans' Playoff hopes? Helton will make sure his team watches that game on replay heading into yet another Friday night matchup against the Cougars. Elsewhere, look for Mario Cristobal and Oregon to be ready for a potentially tough test against Cal.

Week 15: Dec. 11-12

Game
Arizona State at Arizona (Friday, Dec. 11)
Utah at Colorado (Friday, Dec. 11)
Cal at Washington State
Oregon State at Stanford
USC at UCLA
Washington at No. 14 Oregon

Big takeaway: Apart from the USC-UCLA AND Arizona State-Arizona rivalries look for Utah and Colorado to provide the finishing touches on the South race.

Championship Week: Dec. 18-19

Game
Pac-12 championship game (Friday, Dec. 18)
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.