There’s a chance USC football could face Colorado instead of Utah this week

USC football’s game with Utah is in doubt while Colorado-ASU is canceled

USC football is getting ready to face Pac-12 South competition from the Mountain time zone this Saturday. It’s possible it just won’t be the opponent they originally planned.

On Sunday, the Pac-12 confirmed that ASU’s game with Colorado is off due to an outbreak of COVID-19 on the Sun Devil roster.

Since Utah has been unable to play through the first two weeks because of their own coronavirus troubles, it’s time to start looking at contingency plans.

One such plan? USC and Colorado playing a week ahead of schedule.

USC football has to prepare for what comes in the COVID season

We’ve already seen the Pac-12 rearrange the schedule drastically to accommodate teams who have had games canceled. UCLA played Cal on Sunday because Utah had to cancel on the Bruins and ASU had to cancel on the Bears.

CHECK OUT: USC needs a change at head coach, but James Franklin isn’t the answer

The advantage this week is how early the Sun Devils have called off the weekend’s game.

The unknown is where Utah stands. The Utes reported 17 cases which caused the cancelation of the UCLA game. They didn’t have the minimum required number of players available to play. If they have the situation under control and new cases aren’t popping up, then a week of clearing quarantines and contact tracing could be enough to launch the season. The word “if” is doing a lot of work in that statement though.

If the Utes can play, USC will have to travel to Salt Lake City for a late game in cold weather. They’ll have the advantage of having played two games, but they haven’t looked particularly strong in either. Recent trips to Utah haven’t gone well for the Trojans.

MORE: Ronald Jones II rips off record run (Video)

If Utah can’t go, then USC will take on a Karl Dorrell-led team that has started the season 2-0 and looks like they’ve picked up where Mel Tucker left off. It could decide the Pac-12 South.

Here’s one other possibility:

As much as USC fans might dread the possibility of being embarrassed by the No. 2 Irish, the possibility of keeping the rivalry streak intact would be attractive, if unlikely.