Kirby Lee | USA TODAY SPORTS IMAGES

The 2013 season is 16 weeks away, and will get underway with an interesting slate of out-of-conference games for the Pac-12. While they won’t have a marquee matchup against LSU like they have of late, the conference will play Notre Dame three times, as well as host both Ohio State and Wisconsin, while traveling to Nebraska.

Here’s how the conference’s OOC schedules look heading into the season, ranked by team, according to difficulty.

1. Arizona State

Opponents: vs. Sacramento State(FCS), vs. Wisconsin, vs. Notre Dame(Arlington,TX)
With Will Sutton back on the defensive line, the Sun Devils come into 2013 as Rose Bowl hopefuls, and face a tough slate that could help them in the polls due to a substantial strength of schedule. Despite opening with Sacramento State –who have two straight wins over Pac-12 teams– the Fighting Grahams will have their hands full with Wisconsin and Notre Dame, before tough in-conference trips to Palo Alto and Pasadena. The matchup with the 2012 runner-up Irish has to be the most intriguing, considering that just last month, Notre Dame cancelled their 2014 trip to Tempe.

2. California

Opponents: vs. Northwestern, vs. Portland State(FCS), vs. Ohio State
Like Arizona State, Cal cancels out an FCS opponent with two difficult non-conference games. Though, unlike the Sun Devils they’ll play both Northwestern and Ohio State at home, with an inexperienced roster playing under a new regime with Sonny Dykes. It doesn’t bode well for the Bears, as they face what are probably the two best coached teams in Big Ten.

3. UCLA

Opponents: vs. Nevada, at Nebraska, vs. New Mexico State
The Bruins face a murderer’s row of teams on the road this year, with in-conference trips to Stanford, Arizona, USC and Oregon. But the road worries all start with a trip to Lincoln in September, which is immediately preceded by a solid test out of the gate from Nevada. The Nebraska game is the one everyone’s circled, but Nevada is a dangerous season opener, even at the Rose Bowl. Mora’s bunch is very talented, but they need a good trip through September to have a stand-out season, and could be in a for a bumpy ride.

4. Washington

Opponents: vs. Boise State, vs. Illinois(Chicago), vs. Idaho State(FCS)
The Huskies lost to Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl last December, and now get the honor of hosting the Broncos to open the newly-renovated Husky Stadium. It won’t be easy, especially with a medium-tough trip to Solider Field waiting in September. That said, at least Keith Price and company aren’t headed to Baton Rouge this season.

5. Stanford

Opponents: vs. San Jose State, at Army, vs. Notre Dame
Typically, facing San Jose State and Army in the same season would be grounds for eye rolls and blowouts, especially considering that Stanford could be a national title game contender come November. But don’t discount the Spartans in week 1, as they won 11 games in 2012 and nearly defeated a Josh Nunes-led Cardinal team in Palo Alto last year. Oh, and Notre Dame’s bi-annual trip to the Farm won’t be a creampuff, either.

6. Oregon

Opponents: vs. Nicholls State(FCS), at Virginia, vs. Tennessee
Give credit to the Ducks for routinely scheduling good out-of-conference games, as they’ve played Michigan, Oklahoma, Boise State and LSU in the last decade, and now conclude a home-and-home series with Tennessee. Luckily for UO though, they get both the Vols and Virginia when they don’t have many expectations, making for an OOC schedule similar to last year’s, when they faced Arkansas State, Fresno State and Tennessee Tech.

7. USC

Opponents: at Hawai’i, vs. Boston College, vs. Utah State, at Notre Dame
A trip to Hawai’i means an extra home game by NCAA rule, and the Trojans probably weren’t expecting Utah State to be coming off of an 11-2 season when they signed a contract with the Aggies for the game back in 2010. And considering how USC likes to play one solid BCS opponent per year, the same yet opposite could be said about Boston College, a program that has really fallen on hard times since the game was drawn up years ago. Having said that, USC will be favored in three of the four non-conference games, and they’ll need to win them to gain confidence going into the Notre Dame game in mid-October.

8. Utah

Opponents: vs. Utah State, vs. Weber State(FCS), at BYU
Utah’s non-conference school reads like a Salt Lake City sportscaster’s dream, as the Utes will play all three non-conference games against the three other Salt Lake area teams. The big one of course, is that trip to Provo. Not only will it be BYU and Utah’s most anticipated game of the year, it’ll be awfully emotional and perhaps the most anticipated dreaded game of the decade, as the long-time rivals won’t play again until 2016.

9. Washington State

Opponents: at Auburn, vs. Southern Utah(FCS), vs. Idaho
Outside of Auburn still being a member of the SEC and playing in a stadium as hostile as any in the country, Mike Leach’s Cougs don’t have that daunting of an early schedule. Washington State should be improved in 2013 given that it’s year two under Leach, and three wins out of the shoot could be doable if the Cougars can get the best of Auburn, who open the Gus Malzahn era by facing WSU.

10. Oregon State

Opponents: vs. Eastern Washington(FCS), vs. Hawaii, at San Diego State
Last year, the Beavers opened up the year 7-0 for the first time ever. This year they could very well duplicate it, as the In’n'Out aficionados open with three winnable games to start. Mike Riley will be astutely aware of San Diego State’s potential however, especially at Jack Murphy.

11. Colorado

Opponents: vs.Colorado State(at Denver), at Central Arkansas(FCS), vs. Fresno State
Outside of the worries that Derek Carr bring to the table, Colorado’s non-conference schedule probably wouldn’t keep many coaches at night. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes however, they could very easily go winless in them. Colorado State beat the Buffs last year and Central Arkansas finished the 2012 season ranked No. 8 in the FCS. Let’s see how Mike MacIntyre does in Boulder.

12. Arizona

Opponents: vs. Northern Arizona(FCS), at UNLV, vs. Texas-San Antonio
Arizona fell just short of scheduling the Cochise County YMCA All-Stars this year. But given that the Wildcats have had a reputation of continuously over-strengthening their non-conference schedule, a year with the three easiest gimmies in the country might not be a bad idea. It’ll at least give former USC quarterback Jesse Scroggins some playing time in low-pressure situations, whether it be in relief or not.

Tomorrow, it will be four months since the Rose Bowl. It’ll also be four months until the 2013 season’s first Saturday of games on August 31st. In celebration of the halfway point, let’s take a quick and early look at the full schedule in the Pac-12. Click on the image above to check out the full helmet schedule via FBSchedules.com.

Pac-12 South

Arizona: With Northern Arizona, UNLV and Texas-San Antonio, the Wildcats have a non-conference schedule that the SEC would be jealous of. They do host Oregon though, and they always play the Ducks tough in Tucson.

Arizona State: It’s easy to point out that the Sun Devils are historically masters of the second half tail-off, but this year looks to be very different for the Pac-12 South contenders. Wisconsin, Stanford, USC and ND in four straight weeks starting in Week 2? Have fun with that, Todd Graham.

Colorado: Colorado and Central Arkansas to start the season? You know what that means: a potential three-game winning streak for the Buffs dating back to last season.

UCLA: Everyone will love them in the preseason, and with Brett Hundley and Anthony Barr coming back, the Bruins are easy to pick as Pac-12 South front runners. But all things considered, that road schedule is ridiculous and history isn’t on their side. UCLA hasn’t won at Stanford since 2007, Oregon since 2004, Arizona since 2003 and USC since 1997. Oh, and in three games since 2007, they’ve been outscored 129 to 12 in games played in the state of Utah.

USC: There’s two games to circle on USC’s schedule: Week 2 vs. Washington State and the annual Notre Dame game. The Trojans will break-in plenty of new faces in the secondary against Mike Leach’s air raid, which has to cause some concern for Clancy Pendergast. That said, if Troy can beat the Cougars and split the Arizonas, they could be 5-1 going into South Bend, which would be exactly where USC wants to be.

Utah: The Utes play all three in-state rivals and it would be neat for Kyle Wittingham’s bunch to get a Beehive State sweep. But really, it won’t matter, because they could have six straight Pac-12 losses on deck with UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, USC, ASU and Oregon in succession.

Pac-12 North

Cal: The Bears continue to showcase their new digs on the Hayward Fault by hosting not one, but two Big Ten teams, in Northwestern and Ohio State. Sonny Dykes has a brutal schedule, but for an exciting offense with little expectations to win right away, their schedule featuring three preseason Top 5 teams gives them an opportunity to gain some experience.

Oregon: You have to love seeing an SEC team go to Autzen, as the Tennessee Volunteers head to Eugene in Week 3. And yes, Oregon will murder them and be 8-0 going into Stanford, creating the biggest Pac-12 game in the history of the world…on a Thursday night.

Oregon State: The Beavers started 2012 by going 7-0. They may have lost Markus Wheaton and Jordan Poyer, but given their schedule, they’re bound to do it again. The downside though, is that they will be the underdogs in all five games to close the season. Then again, they haven’t lost to USC in Corvallis since Fog Bowl II in 2004.

Stanford: With a ton of returning starters including possibly the best Pac-12 quarterback not named Mariota, the Cardinal should be a top five team to start the season. They’ll be favored in their first eight games and should they make it through unscathed, they’ll be 8-0 and bring a 16-game winning streak into that Thursday night tilt with Oregon in Palo Alto. For the love of football, may it happen.

Washington: Steve Sarkisian’s Huskies open New Husky Stadium with a LAs Vegas Bowl rematch against Boise State. If Keith Price can get revenge on the Broncos in Seattle, it would go a long way in him re-establishing himself as a top quarterback. And Washington will need him to be, with a road schedule that includes trips to Stanford, ASU, UCLA and Oregon State.

Washington State: This is probably the most favorable schedule they could possibly get, considering that they have Oregon and Stanford in their division. The Cougars get USC in Week 2 when the Trojans are still building their secondary, and then they two weeks to prepare for ASU and UA later in the season. Not bad.

Offensively the Trojans have come alive after posting two 90-point totals this season, playing with a profound sense of purpose on the offensive end. In the first half of the Arizona State game USC looked well on their way to eclipsing the 70-point mark, shooting an impressive 47-percent from the field.

The second half, and especially the final five minutes, were extremely worrisome as echoing boos encompassed the Galen Center crowd. Doubts over games like UCLA, Cal and even Oregon were residual, as the Trojan faithful understands how this brand of basketball lends itself to close finishes.

Regardless, losing a 19-point lead only to watch it only slip away at the end is inexcusable. Arizona State’s leading scorer Jahii Carson only scored five points in the first half and looked out of sync as the Trojan defense was collapsing the paint beautifully.

The biggest knock on the new-look Trojans has been their lack of tenacity on defense. Yet, the Trojans looked like the more physical team on Saturday holding ASU to a season-low 20 first-half points. Bodies were flying, charges were being taken as the entire team was buying in to what the coaches were preaching.

In a tale of two halves, the Trojans once stout defense was exposed in the second frame. Many teams fall victim to these lulls that affect a basketball game and USC is following the mold as it continues to step off the gas pedal and allow inferior teams to fight their way back.

The Trojans held Cal by the throat until turnovers and sloppy offensive possessions gave Allen Crabbe too many opportunities to find his shooting touch. Against UCLA, the Trojans played a perfect 35 minutes but did not have the wing defender to shut down Shabazz Muhammad late. Versus Washington State, the Trojans needed a near perfect game from Byron Wesley, who finished with 20 points on 7-10 shooting, to dispose of the worst team in the Pac-12.

Against Oregon, the Trojans scampered back themselves after trailing by 10 with less than three minutes to play. Despite the curious comeback, the team failed to covert on their final possession capping a painful two-point loss that looms large especially with the Trojans recent rise in the rankings.

Back to Saturday’s matchup, the Trojans were once again crippled the moment Jio Fontan left the game with a five-point lead and 4:49 to play. The ensuing possession Dewayne Dedmon took a contested fade-away jumper from the right elbow that had no chance of hitting.

The offense was quite stagnant with Bryan on the court, and that soley rests in Bob Cantu’s hands to prepare his freshmen guard for this big moment. Bryan played in this type of moment before scoring 10 points in the second half against Stanford, a game the Trojans won by two points.

With exactly one minute remaining the Trojans were leading by five when Bryan decided to drive to the rack with at least 10 seconds on the shot clock and flail an up-and-under shot that was brutally rejected, fueling an Arizona State layup on the fastbreak.

Feb 10, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans coach Bob Cantu (right) and forward Eric Wise (34) react in the second half against the Washington Huskies at the Galen Center. USC defeated Washington 71-60. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The most annoying moment of the game was with 19 seconds left, when Cantu did not call an effective play that left JT Terrell on an island of two ASU defenders. Terrell resultantly air balled the shot, before Eric Wise luckily grabbed the board and flailed up an attempt drawing a personal foul.

Then on the final possession, an inbounds pass from Byron Wesley sailed past Chass Bryan for a turnover. The Trojans had a timeout in their pocket and Head Coach Bob Cantu should have known better than to allow a difficult pass towards the sideline.

Luckily for the Trojans, Jahii Carson could not convert on the deep three-point shot to win the game and USC escaped with a one-point victory. The late-game play calling was close to horrendous, leaving doubt about a future without Jio Fontan to carry the offense in the final minutes.

The action may not be pretty, mind-numbing down the stretch for that matter, but the Trojans are finding ways to win ball games.