Tentative USC football schedule has UCLA in Week 2

Remember that time the USC Trojans walked off the field victorious against UCLA near the tail end of the 2019 season?

Well, you may have to wait less than you thought to get that feeling again.

In fact, it may come as early as September 26, as that’s a new tentative date for the USC Trojans to take on bitter rival UCLA Bruins in the new coronavirus-altered 2020 football season.

According to multiple reports from Bruins Report Online and confirmed by sources, USC is UCLA’s new Week 2 opponent, assuming the Pac-12 gets a schedule organized and started on time. The new season start would be on September 19, meaning camps would start on or around August 21.

No other games for USC have been reported but it was reported that UCLA was also adding Washington to their schedule and moving their game against Cal, originally scheduled to close the year for them, is now their season-opener.

These two moves for UCLA apparently have paved the way for easier travel schedules for all parties. That means that USC may also move games against Cal or Stanford to do the same. Staying in conference is a must after the Pac-12 announced a conference-only schedule this year, but while we await safety protocols and other measures the conference puts in place, it seems that staying in-state seems likely for the first few games of the season as well.

We’ll see how it all pans out but it seems very likely that USC and UCLA will battle in September for the first time since 1945.

The Pac-12 is meeting with university presidents and chancellors and should have an update Friday at the earliest.