Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News gained details on the expected Pac-12 football schedule for 2020, which will be released next week and still requires final approval by school presidents and chancellors.
The likely details feature these key points:
- A 10-game season, meaning each Pac-12 team will play all other schools in the conference except for one. If you’re curious, no word on whether Washington State or Oregon State will be the one team USC avoids playing. These schedule details are much less about the specific dates and times, much more about the structure of the season and how it is adjusting to everything going on in the coronavirus pandemic.
- September 19 start date. This was expected. The reasoning for this is very clear: The schools want to buy a few weeks to ride out this really bad patch of the coronavirus (at least as it relates to hospitalizations and overall cases, not deaths) and hope that the numbers will go down by early August. The act of starting the regular season on Sept. 19 would push back the start date for summer training camp by two weeks compared to a Sept. 5 season opener. This is all about buying time.
- Two idle weeks to facilitate potential makeup games due to COVID-19 cases or complications.
- The Pac-12 Championship Game could be played on any of three December weekends: Dec. 4 or 5; 11 or 12; or 18 and 19. This is based on the possibility of needing makeup games. The more makeup games, the more likely the championship game will be pushed back.
The relevant quote in the article, from an unnamed source who had access to the negotiations, is as follows:
“The problem is that Utah and Los Angeles have very different situations; Washington and Washington State have very different situations,” the source said, “so some of it will be up to the public health people.”
That quote is a good reminder that the Pac-12 isn’t going to control how all of this plays out. The Pac-12’s plan is a response to a very fluid situation. How the larger situation — both the virus and the economy — is managed will have a lot to do with whether this plan gets off the ground and moves toward fruition.
Much more on this story today and in the days leading to the announcement next week.