Washington Huskies 2016 Conference Schedule Announced

The PAC 12 dropped its 2016 football schedules last night.  UW fans will not be surprised to learn that they will be facing Oregon and Stanford on back-to-back weekends or that the Apple Cup will be on yet another Friday after Thanksgiving...in Pullman.

Here is the full schedule:

Sat 9/3:  Rutgers @ UW

Sat 9/10:  Idaho @ UW

Sat 9/17:  Portland St @ UW

Sat 9/24:  UW @ Arizona

Fri 9/30:  Stanford @ UW

Sat 10/8:  UW @ Oregon

Sat 10/15:  BYE

Sat 10/22:  Oregon St @ UW

Sat 10/29:  UW @ Utah

Sat 11/5:  UW @ Cal

Sat 11/12:  USC @ UW

Sat 11/19:  Arizona St @ UW

Fri 11/25:  UW @ WSU

Some early impressions from the schedule:

• Playing Stanford then Oregon on back-to-back (short) weeks is not ideal.  It is the fifth time in seven years that the PAC 12 has handed down this scheduling quirk, which has many Husky fans thinking that there is a special place in Hell for whomever created the algorithm that keeps this tradition alive.
• UW's BYE week comes conveniently in the exact middle of the schedule.
• The Huskies are on a 5-road game conference schedule rotation in 2016.  The fact that the first road game is the conference opener (@ Arizona) spreads the impact out a bit.  UW has only one stretch in the season where they will play two straight weeks away from Husky Stadium:  @ Utah then @ Cal in late October/early November.
• The Friday Apple Cup in Pullman is an obvious turd for Husky fans.  However, it's not necessarily a bad thing for UW to go on the road to what will be a mostly empty Martin Stadium with what many Husky fans hope will be a divisional championship still in reach.
• No Thursday night games in 2016.