UNLV football adds trip to USC to future schedule

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Friday, July 15, 2022 | 10:39 a.m.

UNLV football’s future scheduling gained a bit of clarity over the past two days, first with the reveal of their Mountain West opponents for 2023, 2024 and 2025, and then with Friday’s announcement of a game against USC in 2027.

The contest against USC will be the third matchup between the schools, following Trojans victories in 1997 and 2018. Both of those games took place in Los Angeles, as will the 2027 meeting, which will be played at Memorial Coliseum.

The USC addition gives UNLV three nonconference opponents for 2027, along with home games against Arizona State and UTSA.

On Thursday, the Mountain West released its conference slates for the next two years; 2022 is the final season that the MWC will utilize divisional alignments, so all teams will play a rotating schedule going forward, with two opponents protected as “rivalry” games.

UNLV’s two assigned rivals are UNR and Hawaii, so the Scarlet and Gray are guaranteed to face them every season. The conference schedule for 2023 will feature home games Colorado State, San Jose State, Wyoming and Hawaii, plus road tilts at Air Force, Fresno State, UNR and New Mexico. UNLV will not play Boise State, San Diego State or Utah State in 2023.

The 2024 slate will consist of home dates against Fresno State, UNR, San Diego State and Utah State and road games at Boise State, Hawaii, San Jose State and Wyoming. The 2025 home opponents will be Air Force, Boise State, Hawaii and New Mexico, and the road foes will be Colorado State, UNR, San Diego State and Utah State.

Earlier in the week, UNLV a home-and-home series with Houston that will begin with a road game in 2024 and conclude with a return game in Las Vegas in 2028. UNLV also added an away game at Kansas to the 2024 schedule.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.