UCLA 2016 Football Schedule Released

The Pac-12 Conference released the 2016 football schedule this evening. UCLA's conference schedule is somewhat interesting.

The Bruins will open conference play at home against Coach Mora's nemesis the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday, September 24th. UCLA will then face the Arizona schools in back-to-back weeks again, hosting U of A on Saturday October 1st and visiting the Sun Devils on Saturday, October 8th.

The Bruins then visit Washington State on Saturday, October 15th and follow that up by hosting Utah on Saturday, October 22nd. UCLA will have its bye week on October 29th, giving them eleven days to prepare to play the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder on Thursday night, November 3rd.

UCLA returns home on Saturday, November 12th to face Oregon State followed by Southern Cal on Saturday, November 19th.

The Bruins then close out the regular season on the road in Berkeley on Saturday, November 26th.

Looking at that, it could certainly be worse. There's only one weeknight game on the schedule this year even if it's against Colorado. Let's hope the effects from El Nino give the Centennial State a warm early November next year.

I also think that starting off the conference schedule against Stanford gives the Bruins their best chance to minimize any impact should they lose to the Cardinal because the game is still early in the season. Remember: Early season losses are easier to discount than a loss in mid-October or November.

For some reason, I also like the idea of playing UC Berkeley up north on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. I wouldn't have liked it much if it were a Friday game. I think that, by playing that game on Saturday, it gives many Bruin fans a chance to head north for either the entire holiday weekend or even just Saturday to catch the game.

Here's next year's entire schedule:

What are your thoughts on next year's football schedule? Sound off in the comments below.

Go Bruins!!!