The scheduling gods were not kind to the Golden Bears last season - they had no bye week, one game played on Friday night, and were even forced to play the Big Game a month earlier than its traditional date. Luckily, none of those things will reoccur in 2013, as the Pac-12 released its official schedule today.
August 31st - Northwestern Wildcats
September 7th - Portland State Vikings
September 14th - Ohio State Buckeyes
September 21st - BYE
September 28th - @ Oregon Ducks
October 5th - Washington State Cougars
October 12th - @ UCLA Bruins
October 19th - Oregon St. Beavers
October 26th - @ Washington Huskies
November 2nd - Arizona Wildcats
November 9th - USC Trojans
November 16th - @ Colorado Buffaloes
November 23rd - @ Stanford Cardinal
Early things of note:
- The Bears open up with 3 straight home games and have their bye before entering Pac-12 play, but have no back to back road games until their final two games of the season (and really, is the Big Game ever a road game?)
- The Big Game is back in its rightful place in November.
- While the Bears play 7 of ESPN's projected top 25 this season [including 3 of the first 4 games], it should be noted that 4 of those matchups will take place in the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium - USC, Oregon State, Ohio State, and Northwestern. UCLA, Stanford and Oregon will be on the road.
Now that the schedule is out in full, what do you notice? Does this change your season projections or outlook at all?