The Pac-10 conference today announced the 2011 Pac-12 football schedule, and unveiled the eight-year rotation to be used for future scheduling. The season begins on September 3 and concludes on December 3, with the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. The conference title game will be at the home of the division winner with the best conference record.
The Utah Utes and Colorado Buffaloes are the teams that are joining the conference next season. The Utes open their conference schedule on Saturday, September 10 with a trip to Los Angeles to face the USC Trojans at the Coliseum. Utah hosts the UCLA Bruins on November 12. Colorado begins its Pac-12 schedule with an October 1 home game against Washington State. The Buffaloes host USC on November 5, and travel to UCLA two weeks later to battle the Bruins at the Rose Bowl.
The South Division consists of USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. The North Division includes California, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State.
The conference has three straight Thursday matchups on national television in October:
- October 6: California at Oregon
- October 13: USC at California
- October 20: UCLA at Arizona
Per the press release:
"We are pleased to follow the announcement of the Pac-12 North-South divisional alignment with the release of our 2011 football schedule, and a future conference football scheduling model that maintains important traditional rivalries, and will create some very exciting match-ups in our new 12-team conference," stated Commissioner Larry Scott.
For more college football news and analysis, be sure to read the SB Nation blogs for USC (Conquest Chronicles) and UCLA (Bruins Nation).