On Thursday, the Pac-12 released its schedule for the 2022 football season. Stanford’s schedule is as follows:
9/3 — COLGATE
9/10 — USC*
9/17 — BYE
9/24 — at Washington*
10/1 — at Oregon*
10/8 — OREGON STATE*
10/15 — at Notre Dame
10/22 — ARIZONA STATE*
10/29 — at UCLA*
11/5 — WASHINGTON STATE*
11/12 — at Utah*
11/19 — at Cal* (125th Big Game)
11/26 — BYU
When looking at the schedule, five things stand out.
#1. Stanford will not be playing an all-power-five schedule: Last season, every team they faced was a power-five conference team. In 2022, they’ll get the luxury of opening at home against Colgate, which should serve as an easy win to kick off the season.
#2. Stanford won’t get a home game with students on campus until October 8th: There are a lot of benefits to being on the quarter system, but none of them apply to college football teams seeking to boost attendance. Classes at Stanford won’t start until Monday the 19th of September at the earliest. This means the first two home games will be played when school isn’t yet in session. This isn’t a new issue for Stanford, but not all years are the same. In the 2021 season, Stanford had the comfort of knowing classes were in session during their first two home games: September 25th vs. UCLA and October 2nd vs. Oregon.
#3. The Notre Dame game will be earlier: The past couple of years, the Notre Dame game came at the end of the season. In 2022, it’ll be right smack dab in the middle. This too isn’t new to Stanford as they’re used to having to be flexible with Notre Dame’s independent status, but still, it is worth noting that the Notre Dame game will be in October as opposed to November, where it’s typically been as of late.
#4. Stanford gets an early bye week: Week 3 is a very early bye week. And with Colgate essentially being close to a bye week as well, Stanford is unlikely to benefit much from the rest that the bye week will give them. Ideally, you have the bye week more in the middle of the season or towards the end where you might actually benefit from getting some guys rested. It’ll be interesting to see how often that comes up for Stanford if they once again get hit with injuries.
#5. BYU comes to town: BYU will come to Stanford to close out the 2022 season. The Cougars are one of the elite programs in the country, finishing the season ranked inside the top 15 and gaining Big XII membership this fall. That game will not be easy for Stanford and knowing how well BYU fans travel, it could end up feeling more like a road game if Stanford’s season is a lost cause at that point of the season.
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