By now lots of people have already looked at varying aspects of the 2023 Pac-12 football schedule-usually from the perspective of each team. In this FanPost I'll look at it from a TV perspective. Which games will be the priorities for the Pac-12 TV partners and which won't.

The obvious caveat here is that a lot can change before the TV networks need to pick games for the week; this is especially true once games get played. But from what we know (or think we know) now, here is how I've prioritized the games.

I divided up the games into 3 tiers (actually 4-there is a separate category for games that the Pac-12 won't control). The top 2 games each week are tier 1; those are the most likely to be chosen by Fox and ESPN to be on their primary stations (in some cases that could be ABC). Tier 2 games would be on the other Fox (FS1) and ESPN (ESPN2) channels. And the tier 3 games would be ones that would be on the Pac-12 Network.

I assumed that there would be two Tier 1 and two Tier 2 games each week, although in some weeks there may not be any Tier 2 games because I'm also assuming that there will be at least two Tier 3 games each week. I've adjusted the tiers for the games so that every team will have at least 3 Tier 3 games (corresponding to each team being on the Pac-12 Network at least 3 times). Games that are played at a non-conference opponent have no tier because they will not be controlled by the Pac-12 TV deal.

Here is what I came up with for tiers for each game. There are comments for most which explain my reasoning.

Sat., Aug. 26

• San Jose State at USC (Tier 1). The only Pac-12 game in Week 0, so an easy call.

Thur., Aug. 31

• Southern Utah at Arizona State (Tier 1). Again, the only Pac-12 game that day. This may still be on the Pac-12 Network, but because it will be Dillingham's first game, I put it in Tier 1.

Fri., Sept. 1

• Stanford at Hawaii (Tier 0). The only Pac-12 game; but because Hawaii is hosting, it likely won't be on a Pac-12 affiliated network.

Sat., Sept. 2

• Florida at Utah (Tier 1). A SEC school comes to the West Coast.
• Boise State at Washington (Tier 1). Let the Penix for Heisman hype train get started in earnest-and against an opponent that has some national recognition.
• Coastal Carolina at UCLA (Tier 2). The question will be: who will be replacing DTR at QB.
• Oregon State at San Jose State (Tier 2). Does DJ Uiagalelei start for the Beavers? If so, he starts his first game at Oregon State on the road.
• Nevada at USC (Tier 3). First regular season game since winning the Heisman for Caleb Williams, but because so many of USC's other games will be Tier 1, this gets dropped.
• Portland State at Oregon (Tier 3). No game against a FCS opponent should be higher.
• Northern Arizona at Arizona (Tier 3). Arizona won't have the hype that Oregon, so even less chance that this gets moved up.
• Colorado at TCU would likely have been at the top since this will be Deion Sander's first game at Colorado, but it will be played at TCU, so it won't be a Pac-12 game. California at North Texas and Washington State at Colorado State will not be on Pac-12 affiliated networks either.

Sat., Sept. 9

• Nebraska at Colorado (Tier 1). Deion's first home game at Colorado will be against an old rival.
• Wisconsin at WSU (Tier 1). A rare Power-5 opponent plays in Pullman.
• Oklahoma State at Arizona State (Tier 2). Both teams disappointed in 2022, so both teams will look to bounce back. And it will be the first real test for Dillingham as head coach at Arizona State.
• Auburn at California (Tier 2). Another SEC team visits the West Coast.
• Stanford at USC (Tier 3). First Pac-12 conference game, but other USC games will likely be a priority later in the year.
• Tulsa at Washington (Tier 3). UW should be more of a draw than WSU or Cal, but a Group-of-Five team, even a decent one, will usually drop a game compared to a game between 2 Power-5 opponents.
• UC Davis at Oregon State (Tier 3). An FCS opponent usually drops the game to the bottom.
• Oregon at Texas Tech (which could be a very big game nationally), UCLA at San Diego State, and Utah at Baylor (another big game nationally) will likely all be on non-Pac-12 networks.

Sat., Sept. 16

• San Diego State at Oregon State (Tier 1). Not many good matchups; this is likely the best.
• Sacramento State at Stanford (Tier 1). Normally a game against a FCS opponent wouldn't be a priority, but this game moves to the top because of the matchup between Troy Taylor's old team (Sacramento State) and his new team (Stanford)-and because there aren't a lot of good options.
• Fresno State at Arizona State (Tier 2). Could be a game when the Group-of-Five team is favored.
• UTEP at Arizona (Tier 2). Another game where the Group-of-Five team may be favored.
• Colorado State at Colorado (Tier 3). This one could get bumped up because of Deion, but by week 3 the novelty may be off a bit. (Also, their next 2 games will be spotlighted more.)
• Hawaii at Oregon (Tier 3). This one could also get bumped up if the networks have room for another Tier 2.
• Weber State at Utah (Tier 3).
• NC Central at UCLA (Tier 3).
• Northern Colorado at WSU (Tier 3).
• Idaho at California (Tier 3).
• UW at Michigan State will be on a BigTen network.

Sat., Sept. 23

• UCLA at Utah (Tier 1). Two teams that could be ranked in the top-25.
• Colorado at Oregon (Tier 1). First Pac-12 conference game for Deion Sanders-and against a likely top-25 opponent.
• USC at Arizona State (Tier 2). First Pac-12 conference game for Kenny Dillingham.
• Oregon State at WSU (Tier 2). Slight edge here over the next game because both teams went to bowl games in 2022.
• California at Washington (Tier 3). A UW game should normally be higher, but a lot of good games (better opponents) this weekend.
• Arizona at Stanford (Tier 3).

Sat., Sept. 30

• Utah at Oregon State (Tier 1). Potentially 2 top-25 teams.
• USC at Colorado (Tier 1). Heisman winner takes on the revamped Buffalos in a road game.
• Oregon at Stanford (Tier 2). Used to be a good matchup, but probably not this year.
• Washington at Arizona (Tier 3). Could be another shoot-out.
• Arizona State at California (Tier 3). Two teams that may need this win for bowl-eligibility.

Sat., Oct. 7

• Arizona at USC (Tier 1). Not many options, so a LA school is going to be the biggest draw.
• WSU at UCLA (Tier 1). Another LA school.
• Oregon State at California (Tier 3).
• Colorado at Arizona State (Tier 3).

Fri., Oct. 13

• Stanford at Colorado (Tier 1). Only Pac-12 game that day.

Sat., Oct. 14

• Oregon at Washington (Tier 1). Duh!
• UCLA at Oregon State (Tier 1). Another game between 2 likely ranked opponents.
• California at Utah (Tier 3).
• Arizona at WSU (Tier 3).
• USC at Notre Dame will probably be on NBC.

Sat., Oct. 21

• Utah at USC (Tier 1). Rematch of the Pac-12 Championship Game.
• WSU at Oregon (Tier 1). This was a very close game last year in Pullman.
• Arizona State at Washington (Tier 3). Revenge for last year's loss? This could be swapped for the WSU-Oregon game depending on how the teams are doing.
• UCLA at Stanford (Tier 3). Last matchup between these teams as members of the same conference.

Sat., Oct. 28

• Oregon at Utah (Tier 1). Likely two top-25 teams.
• USC at California (Tier 1). Last time these teams will meet as members of the same conference.
• Colorado at UCLA (Tier 2). If Colorado is doing well, this could be bumped up.
• Oregon State at Arizona (Tier 2). Likely a great offense against a great defense.
• WSU at Arizona State (Tier 3).
• Washington at Stanford (Tier 3).

Sat., Nov. 4

• Washington at USC (Tier 1). Duh!
• UCLA at Arizona (Tier 1). Rematch of last year's upset.
• California at Oregon (Tier 2).
• Stanford at WSU (Tier 2).
• Arizona State at Utah (Tier 3).
• Oregon State at Colorado (Tier 3).

Sat., Nov. 11

• USC at Oregon (Tier 1). Top-25 matchup, and two of the "most talented teams" in the Pac-12.
• Utah at Washington (Tier 1). Close second.
• Stanford at Oregon State (Tier 2).
• WSU at California (Tier 2).
• Arizona State at UCLA (Tier 3).
• Arizona at Colorado (Tier 3).

Fri., Nov. 17

• Colorado at WSU (Tier 1). Only Pac-12 game this day.

Sat., Nov. 18

• UCLA at USC (Tier 1). Easy choice.
• Washington at Oregon State (Tier 1). Close second.
• California at Stanford (Tier 2).
• Utah at Arizona (Tier 3).
• Oregon at Arizona State (Tier 3).

Fri., Nov. 24

• Oregon State at Oregon (Tier 1). Only Pac-12 game.

Sat., Nov. 25.

• WSU at Washington (Tier 1). Could have implications for the Pac-12 championship game.
• Notre Dame at Stanford (Tier 1). An opponent like Notre Dame gets the game bumped up-regardless of how good Stanford is.
• Arizona at Arizona State (Tier 2).
• California at UCLA (Tier 3). Last game between them as part of the same conference.
• Colorado at Utah (Tier 3). Could be bumped up depending on how Colorado does.

Obviously these are just my guesses, and things may change depending on how teams play during the year. But, based on what we can speculate now on which will be the best teams, most of the Tier 1 games seem likely. And again, based on how teams do, some of the Tier 2 games may get moved to Tier 3 and the Tier 3 games get moved to Tier 2. And some of this may depend on what other games are happening around college football.

Here is a table which show how many times each school appears in each tier.

USC benefits by having the returning Heisman winner and being a potential playoff team (plus just having the national brand recognition) which is why they are in Tier 1 so many times. Colorado gets a lot of Tier 1 because of the impact of Deion Sanders-especially early in the season. WSU gets the ‘benefit' by playing Wisconsin and Colorado on a Friday.