USC's schedule = BRILLIANT!!

Aug. 30 at Virginia

Sept. 6 OPEN DATE

Sept. 13 Ohio State

Sept. 20 OPEN DATE

Sept. 25 at Oregon State

Oct. 4 Oregon

Oct. 11 Arizona State

Oct. 18 at Washington State

Oct. 25 at Arizona

Nov. 1 Washington

Nov. 8 California

Nov. 15 at Stanford

Nov. 22 OPEN DATE

Nov. 29 Notre Dame

Dec. 6 at UCLA

USC's schedule was posted on another thread. I couldn't help but notice 3 "open dates" on it. I also noticed that they will have an extra week to prepare for OSU, and an extra week to recover from the game. I think this is brilliant schedule management. I think the Big 10's unwillingness to play into December can end up hurting their teams, in more ways than one. Only one off week, and a huge layoff till the bowl games. I am one the few fans that is not a BIG 10 fan. I think the officials are thick-headed and archaic on many issues.

Oh well, just an observation, any thoughts on this?

the open dates are an advantage late in the season when injuries start to occur. i wouldnt call it an advantage when playing a team like osu so early in the season.  i do think that we play a favorable schedule with most of our tough opponents at home.

if my memory serves me right, the big ten will adopt open date in the 2009-10 season.  such long delays between the last game and bowl games are brutal. i'm not saying osu would have beat florida or lsu but i'm sure another game or two in between would have definitely helped.  i believe SEC teams play 3 more games after the big 10 season is over and the PAC10 plays 2. i'll have to double check.

back to usc's schedule. i was asking myself which is better, playing one game vs an ACC opponent in virginiaor two games vs. youngstown st and ohio?  usc has been known to start as of late. last years game against idaho raised plenty of questions.

i look forward to 9/13. actually i look forward to anything thats football. i'm so sick of soccer, tennis and baseball.

As far as playing YSU and Ohio, as opposed to @ UVA. I'm not sure which way to lean here. 2 warmup games going into USC I think is good. However, I'm not sure those 2 games really prepares a team for a team the caliber of USC. USC goes into a hostile environment their first game against a good D-1 team. I'm not sure thats good either. I would however love an extra week to prepare for the Trojans.

Can't wait for 9/13. I'm not sure if my Bucks will win. I am sure it will be great game.

I agree.  I don't think the schedule really gives USC much advantage going into the tOSU game.  It will be nice to have an extra week to prepare, but there's also something to be said for getting into the rhythm of weekly games.

It will be an early season game for both teams, so there may be a few miscues, but both teams are well-coached, experienced, and will have strong on-field leadership.  I expect a well-played game.  I will readily admit that tOSU is more experienced, but USC is hardly inexperienced.  All of USC's projected starters had significant playing time last year.   Most are upperclassmen.  By college standards, USC isn't a "young team" and I don't expect them to play like one...even if they only play one game going into the tOSU game.

USC's schedule is very favorable from the standpoint of their Pac-10 schedule.  It will give them ample oppoprtunity to identify problems and make adjustments before they head into perhaps the 3 games that will determine the Pac-10 champ....@ Oregon St., Oregon, ASU.  It will also be nice to have a week off at the end, before the two rivalry games.  As was mentioned, USC did get most of the tough games at home.  I don't know if the "schedule maker" gets any credit for this, or if it just worked out that way.  I can't wait to see what they do with it.