Stanford announces 2016 football schedule

On Tuesday night, the Pac-12 Conference and Stanford Athletics released the Cardinal’s football schedule for the 2016 season, which will include six home games and non-conference matchups against Kansas State, Notre Dame and Rice.

Stanford’s schedule will be headlined by a rematch of the Pac-12 Championship against USC to open Pac-12 play on Sept. 17, a visit to South Bend to take on Notre Dame on Oct. 15, a chance to avenge defeat against Oregon in Eugene on Nov. 12 and the 119th Big Game on Nov. 19.

The Cardinal will also play two Friday games: Week 1 against Kansas State (Sept. 2) and at Washington in Week 5 (Sept. 30). The last time Stanford played in Seattle on a weekday, the Cardinal lost to the Huskies in 2012 on a rainy Thursday in CenturyLink Field. In a further disadvantage, the Cardinal also get an unfavorable bye in Week 2.

As is often the case in even-numbered years, the Cardinal’s home schedule does not look to be a favorable draw for students, as the two biggest home games of the season (Kansas State and USC) will take place on Sept. 2 and Sept. 17, which is before most students are able to move into on-campus student housing on Sept. 23.

The four home games that students will be on campus for will be against Washington State (Oct. 8), Colorado (Oct. 22), Oregon State (Nov. 5) and Rice (Nov. 26). While the Cougars finished third in the Pac-12 North with an 8-4 record and are still receiving AP top 25 votes this season, Colorado and Oregon State finished in last place in their respective divisions in the Pac-12, while Rice finished 5-7 and in fourth place in the Conference USA West.

Stanford will open its season with the recently-scheduled game against Big 12 opponent Kansas State in the teams’ first ever meeting before taking its bye week. It will then conference play against USC at home in what should be a big game to size up the season for both teams.

The Cardinal will then begin a two-game road trip to take on UCLA in Westwood on Sept. 24 and then Washington in Seattle on the ensuing Friday. They will then return home to host Washington State on Oct. 8 in what could be an intriguing matchup against one of the Pac-12’s rising teams before heading to Indiana for their annual game against Notre Dame.

The team’s alumni homecoming game against Colorado on Oct. 22 will precede the Cardinal’s first trip to Tucson since 2011 to take on the Arizona Wildcats on Oct. 29, after which Stanford will host Oregon State on Nov. 5.

That will lead into the final stretch of the season, in which Stanford will play Oregon in Eugene in a rematch of what has been the de facto Pac-12 title game in the last six seasons on Nov. 12, travel to Berkeley on Nov. 19 for the 119th Big Game and finish the season at home against Rice on Senior Day. The last time Stanford and Rice met was in 1964 at the old Stanford Stadium.

Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.