USC football reportedly will add Washington State in proposed Pac-12 schedule

USC football will add Washington State in the proposed 10-game Pac-12 schedule for 2020.

The USC football season for 2020 is creeping closer and closer to reality, especially with news this week of the Pac-12 planning for a 10-game conference-only schedule beginning on Sept. 19.

On Friday, more details of that plan came forward.

As it stands, each Pac-12 team will retain the nine conference matchups originally intended for 2020. Each will add one from the pool of two teams they were set to miss.

For USC, that would mean adding Washington State to the slate, per Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

USC football will take on Washington State a year ahead of schedule.

Originally, the Trojans were scheduled to begin the conference slate against Stanford on Sept. 19 before facing ASU, Utah, Cal, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and UCLA. It’s unclear if the order of those contests will change.

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Since five of those nine games were to be played on the road, it stands to reason the Washington State game will be a home game. However, that has not been confirmed.

The only Pac-12 team USC won’t face in 2020 is now Oregon State.

Historically, USC holds a huge advantage over the Cougars in the all-time series. The Trojans are 59-10-4 going back to 1921. However, in the last four meetings between the two, it has been far more even. USC won the 2018 and 2014 matchups, but Washington State took the wins in 2013 and 2017.

The Cougars are in a different position now though. Mike Leach left for Mississippi State, prompting WSU to hire Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich. He had just posted a 10-5 record with the Rainbow Warriors in 2019 but will now have to find his footing in the Pac-12 under unusual circumstances.

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Washington State will also have to replace quarterback Anthony Gordon, who led the Pac-12 in passing last year before graduating.

According to McMurphy’s reporting, Arizona would add Cal, Arizona State would add Stanford, Colorado would add Oregon State, Utah would add Oregon and UCLA would add Washington.