Pac-12 Hotline: 7 highlights of the Pac-12's early-season television schedule

The Pac-12 reverted to its pre-pandemic football timeline Thursday with the traditional late-spring release of kickoff times and TV networks for the opening weeks of the season.

The reveal covered all Pac-12 home games for the first four weeks, from Aug. 28 through Sept. 18, as well as the Friday games throughout the fall.

Start times for Saturday kickoffs beginning Sept. 25 will be released during the season, per usual, on 12- and six-day windows.

Our reaction to the news:

The biggest non-conference homes games are on Fox. UCLA hosts LSU at 5:30 p.m. on Labor Day weekend — it could be toasty at the Rose Bowl — while Colorado hosts Texas A&M at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.

The other major early-season games, Oregon at Ohio State and Washington at Michigan, are already on the books for Sept. 11. The showdown in Columbus starts at 9 a.m. (Fox), while UW’s date in the Big House kicks at 4:30 p.m. (ABC).

Arizona’s season under new coach Jedd Fisch begins Sept. 4 on ESPN, with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against BYU at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Arizona’s other nonconference games are on the Pac-12 Networks.

There are no 9 a.m. kickoffs on Pac-12 campuses in the early weeks of the season, but one home game starts at 10 a.m.. Colorado hosts Minnesota on the Pac-12 Networks on Sept. 18.

Media exposure won’t get any better for the conference than on Sept. 11, which is arguably the biggest day of a momentous season. In addition to Oregon-Ohio State, Washington-Michigan and Colorado-Texas A&M, there’s a fourth game on broadcast television: Stanford at USC will be shown on Fox at 7:30 p.m., marking the first time that network has shown a Pac-12 game starting at 7 p.m. or later Pacific time.

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#Pac12AfterDark will be at full throttle on Sept. 11, with five night games:

7 p.m.: San Diego State at Arizona (Pac-12 Networks)

7:15 p.m.: Utah at BYU (ESPN)

7:30 p.m.: UNLV at Arizona State (ESPN2)

7:30 p.m.: Stanford at USC (FOX)

8 p.m.: Hawaii at Oregon State (FS1)

Three nonconference games will be broadcast only on the Pac-12 Network regional channel, not on the national feed. All are on Sept. 18: Idaho at Oregon State (12:30 p.m.); Sacramento State at Cal (1 p.m.); NAU at Arizona (7 p.m.)

In all, the ESPN and Fox networks will show 45 Pac-12 home games, while the Pac-12 Networks will broadcast 36. Of note: All Pac-12 Networks games are also available on the Pac-12 Now app.