USC will open the 2023 football season in Week 0 with a game against San Jose State on Saturday, Aug. 26. The Trojans will play twice more before a mid-September bye week.

Then it’s a grind.

The Trojans will play nine straight weeks before sitting idle the weekend of Thanksgiving. One year after an 11-2 record and a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game, USC will have a bye week before what it hopes is a return trip to Las Vegas for the title game.

But that nine-week stretch will be a doozy.

The 2023 schedule was released on Wednesday. USC will come out of the bye week with back-to-back road games against Arizona State (Sept. 23) and Colorado (Sept. 30). That game to close out September will likely land on national TV considering the head coaching matchup it’ll provide — Lincoln Riley vs. Deion Sanders is must-see TV.

USC might play a mid-week game in 2023, but only one. And it might not even happen. The Trojans could face Arizona State on Friday, Oct. 6, or Saturday, Oct. 7, according to the Pac-12 Network.

After that, USC gets a murderer’s row.

It’ll travel to Notre Dame on Oct. 14. Then return home to face Utah on Oct. 21, a game that will give the Trojans an opportunity for revenge after two of three losses in 2022 came at the hands of the Utes.

On Nov. 4, USC will host Washington, a team that went 11-2 this past season under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer. A week later, it travels to Eugene to face Oregon in the regular season for just the second time since 2016.

Senior Day — what will likely be Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams’ final game at USC — takes place on Nov. 18 against UCLA.

Here’s the full schedule:

  • Aug. 26: vs. San Jose State
  • Sept. 2: vs. Nevada
  • Sept. 9: vs. Stanford
  • Sept. 16: BYE
  • Sept. 23: at Arizona State
  • Sept. 30: at Colorado
  • Oct. 6 (Fri.) OR Oct. 7 (Sat.): vs. Arizona
  • Oct. 14: at Notre Dame
  • Oct. 21: vs. Utah
  • Oct. 28: at California
  • Nov. 4: vs. Washington
  • Nov. 11: at Oregon
  • Nov. 18: vs. UCLA
  • Nov. 25: BYE