Pac-12 Announces 2023 Football League Schedules

Football
January 18, 2023Curtis Snyder, Assistant AD/Sports Information

Colorado’s 2023 schedule is now complete

BOULDERThe Pac-12 Conference released its 2023 football conference schedule on Wednesday. The University of Colorado’s final slate includes four league home games and six total at Folsom Field in the stadium’s 100th season.

It’s also the first season of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, CU’s 28th full-time head football coach.

The non-conference schedule has been set since 2017; The Buffs under Coach Prime open on the road at College Football Playoff participant TCU on Saturday, September 2nd. It will be the 41st time CU has opened the season on the road, but only the fourth time since 1995; Colorado opened that year with a win at Wisconsin. The Buffs previously opened the season at Texas State twice (1940 at Texas, 1960 at Baylor).

Colorado will then host two longtime rivals back-to-back to open the 100th season at Folsom Field. Nebraska heads to town on Saturday, September 9; both schools left the Big 12 Conference before the 2011 season and played a home-and-home series in 2018-19, with the Buffaloes winning both, 33-28 in Lincoln and 34-31 in overtime in Boulder.

Colorado State will then travel 50 miles south to Boulder on Saturday, Sept. 16 for a matchup that will be the first between the in-state rivals since 2019. In 2020, the 11-game series finale was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic. was introduced in 2009. The two schools will play on Sept. 14, 2024 in Fort Collins and again in home games in 2029-30, 2033-34 and 2037-38.

The last time both Nebraska and CSU were on the Buffs’ home schedule was in 2005.

Then attention turns to the Pac-12 Conference schedule, the last one featuring Southern California and UCLA as league members before they head to the Big Ten.

The Buffs will open the Pac-12 on the road for the sixth time since joining the conference in 2011, heading to Eugene, Oregon on Sept. 23. This is the second time the Buffs have opened a league game. at the Ducks and for the third time against Oregon. CU won 41-38 at Oregon on September 23, 2016, the conference opener of what would eventually be a Pac-12 South Championship season and one of the biggest turnarounds in Pac-12 history from 1-8 in 2015 to 8-8-1 in 2016.

CU then hosts Southern California to close out September on Sept. 30 at Folsom Field, the final matchup between the two as conference foes. Colorado is looking for its first win against the Trojans.

October would open with a trip to Tempe to take on Arizona State. Then, on a short week, the Buffs will face Stanford on Friday, Oct. 13, in a game played as part of Family Weekend on the CU campus. After the bye week, the Buffs head to Los Angeles to face UCLA for the last time in league play on October 28th.

November begins with CU’s annual Homecoming game against Oregon State on the 4th. Nov. and the home finale coincides with both Senior Day and Veterans Day when Arizona visits Boulder on Nov. 11. With the home schedule complete, the Buffs have another Friday game at Washington State on Nov. 17, followed by the regular season finale at Utah on Nov. 25, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The Pac-12 Championship game will be played on Friday, December 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

California and Washington are the two conference opponents that will not appear on CU’s schedule in the 2023 season.

“We are excited about the home schedule we have put together for both the start of the Coach Prime era and our 100th season at Folsom Field,” CU athletic director Rick George said. “With both Nebraska and Colorado State at home for the first time in 18 years, the final game against USC in the near future, and Family Weekend, Homecoming and Senior Day games, 2023 is shaping up to be one of our most exciting home schedules in a long time.”

Renewal of season tickets is underway and February 2nd is fast approaching.

Televised game selections and start times for the first three weeks of the season will be determined in early June, with all remaining games between September 23 and the final week of the regular season to be made 12 or occasionally six days in advance by agreement. agreements with the Pac-12 and its television partners ESPN, FOX and Pac-12 Networks.