LOS ANGELES (CNS) - USC's coronavirus-shortened 2020 football schedule was announced today, featuring seven games against Pac-12 conference opponents.
The Trojans will play all five of the other schools in South Division, including a Nov. 7 home game against Arizona State to kick off the season.
That game will start at 9 a.m. -- the earliest kickoff time for a Trojans home game since at least the early 1950s when complete records are available. A home contest against Loyola in the 1891 season began at 9:30 a.m.)
They will host the Washington State Cougars, a North Division foe, on Dec. 4, in a Friday night game at the Coliseum.
USC will battle its crosstown rival UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Dec. 12, tying the latest date that the teams have met (1942).
The Trojans' other road games are against Arizona on Nov. 14 and Utah on Nov. 21.
A seventh game will feature a to-be-determined Championship Week opponent and will be held on the 2020 regular season's final weekend, Dec. 18-19, at a site to be announced.
Fans will not be allowed at any Pac-12 sports competitions until at least 2021, the league has announced.
USC's original 2020 schedule comprised 12 games that included non-conference foes Alabama, New Mexico and Notre Dame. In late July, the schedule was revised and shortened to 10 games versus conference-only opponents (kicking off on Sept. 26) to better deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several weeks later, however, the Pac-12 postponed sports competitions until 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns. In late September, the league resumed the football, basketball and winter sports seasons based upon updated Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee recommendations that took into account changes to testing capabilities, the prevalence of COVID-19 and cardiac issues and updated state and local health official guidance.
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The team's complete football schedule is as follows:
-- Nov. 7: Arizona State
-- Nov. 14: at Arizona
-- Nov. 21: at Utah
-- Nov. 28: Colorado
-- Dec. 4: Washington State
-- Dec. 12: at UCLA
-- Dec. 18/19: TBA, Pac-12 Championship Week