USC football team adds two more dates in paradise


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USC has elected to renew its football series with Hawaii, scheduling a pair of games for the 2012 and 2013 season last week.

The Warriors will come to the Coliseum on Sept. 1, 2012, to open the season and will host USC on Aug. 31, 2013.

USC also announced it will move the date of its 2010 matchup with Hawaii in Honolulu to Sept. 2 from Sept. 4. The Thursday kickoff at 5:30 p.m. Hawaiian time will allow the game to be broadcast nationally by ESPN.

“We’re excited to be able to add some more games against Hawaii to our schedule,” said USC coach Pete Carroll in a press release. “I know our players and fans enjoy traveling to Honolulu for the game, and we get good crowd support from the many Trojan fans living in Hawaii who get to see us play. And it works out well for Hawaii coming to the Coliseum, because they have such a strong fan base in Southern California.”

Playing an away game at Hawaii will allow the Trojans to take advantage of an NCAA rule allowing a 13th game for any team traveling to the island. USC is currently slated to play four out-of-conference teams in 2010 — Hawaii, Virginia, Minnesota and Notre Dame — in addition to the nine mandatory Pac-10 games.

USC only has three out-of-conference games scheduled for 2013 — at Hawaii, vs. Boston College and at Notre Dame — but the athletic department plans on scheduling a fourth, according to a post by Ben Malcolmson on USCripsit.com.

The Trojans are 6-0 all-time against the Warriors. USC rode to a 63-17 season-opening win in Honolulu in 2005, the last time the two teams met.