This might be a tough pill to swallow, but I broached the topic before in an earlier post that the new Pac-12 TV arrangement would mean probably at least one or two rivalry games might be moved to give the conference plum games to put on their network. The Notre Dame-USC game means the UCLA-USC game moves up a week. The Big Game (which has always been the week before Thanksgiving, but is now kind of displaced in the regular schedule) was the logical choice.
I'm not sure what this'll mean for our Thanksgiving contest next year. Wilner says that no other rivalry games are moving to October, so either
a) Cal finishes next season with a non-conference contest.
b) Cal finishes next year with UCLA, since USC plays Notre Dame on Thanksgiving weekend. Furd would probably go non-conference in that event. I would prefer this scenario the most.
c) One more rivalry game is moving a week up, and Cal/Furd finish their season against those rivals and/or UCLA.
d) Bye week. Unlikely.
Thankfully, Cal is back at Memorial next season and interest in the new stadium should be high throughout the season. But Cal better have a good to great season next year, or risk interest in this team dropping off drastically right after we take the Axe again.
So. Who's ready for the Big Game in October?