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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.

Jan 10, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Southern California Trojans center James Blasczyk (31) reacts from the bench late in the second half of the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at the Coors Events Center. The Buffaloes defeated the Trojans 66-60. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The USC Trojans took an early 17-10 lead over the Colorado Buffaloes, but struggled from that point forward, letting a victory slip from their fingers.

In the high altitude of the Coors Event Center the Trojans came out firing, making 8-11 shots to begin the game; silencing the 10,344 fans in attendance.

In the first road test of Pac-12 play, the USC Trojans (6-10, 1-2) came out aggressive in the early moments of both halves. What ultimately doomed the strong effort was a season-high 22 turnovers.

Although losing by six, the Trojans were down by double-digits for large stretches of the game. After the Trojans early surge, the Buffaloes never looked back in the second half finishing the half on a 31-9 run to lead by 15 at half time.

In a game best summarized by runs, the Colorado Buffaloes did just enough in the middle part of the ball game to stifle the Trojans upset bid.

Jan 10, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Southern California Trojans guard J.T. Terrell (20) dunks the ball against the Colorado Buffaloes in the second half at the Coors Events Center. The Buffaloes defeated the Trojans 66-60. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

USC was able to slow down the pace for most of the contest, led by the play of their seven-footers. Dewayne Dedmon scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds, one rebound short of his second-straight double double.

Omar Oraby scored six points and grabbed four rebounds, but only logged 10 minutes after getting in early foul trouble. Eric Wise, the 6’6″ forward who plays like a seven-footer, led the Trojans with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Colorado made a change to their starting lineup, playing freshmen Xavier Jonson in the place of Andre Roberson. Johnson scored seven points in 23 minutes, struggling to control the game with his size and athleticism. Josh Scott picked up the load for the Buffaloes, registering 14 points on 6-7 shooting from the field.

Sabatino Chen, the guard who nailed the reviewed three-point shot against Arizona, played tremendously against the depleted Trojans backcourt. Chen scored six fast break points, ending the night with 10 points and four steals.

The Trojans played well in many facets of the game, but failed miserably in the turnover department. The Trojans 22 turnovers, not even counting the bad shots that led to fast break points, turned the game into a sloppy track meet.

Jio Fontan left the contest late in the first half, and did not return for the rest of the contest. Chass Bryan and Byron Wesley took over the role of point-guard in the second half. With their leader out, the Trojans slowed down the high-paced Buffaloes attack.

After playing no minutes in the first half, JT Terrell started the second half for USC. Terrell scored 11 points, but shot 2-8 from behind the arc. The issue for Terrell was that he continued to take difficult shots, placing the transition defense out of position.

When things looked like they were headed for another road debacle, down 16 with six minute to play, the Trojans responded for the best. Chass Bryan and JT Terrell sparked the final surge, cutting the lead to as close as six with 17 seconds to play.

In a play that perfectly summates the Trojans season, USC stole the ball but Byron Wesley missed a short layup. Bryan then grabbed the rebound and J.T. Terrell fired a three-point shot long. The continued perimeter struggles reared its ugliest head for the Trojans in the final moment of this game.

On a bright note, USC scored 60-plus points for the third consecutive Pac-12 play. In the end however, the second-ranked team in the Pac-12 in not turning the ball over, could not capitalize on a great opportunity to notch a marquee road victory.

On Saturday, USC will travel to Salt Lake City to face a resiliant Utah Utes squad (8-7, 0-3) that lost to UCLA 57-53 on Thursday Night.