Jon Wilner (OC Register) — Pac-12 football in 2020 remains on hold, at least officially.
The university presidents and chancellors did not vote Friday on a return to competition — but are expected to reconvene in coming days.
“The Pac-12 CEO Group had an informative and productive meeting earlier today,” the conference said Friday evening. “We plan to reconvene this coming Thursday, September 24 to make a decision regarding possible return to play prior to January 1.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports will continue to be our number one priority in all of our decision making.”
It is widely expected that they will approve a fall season with Oct. 31 or Nov. 7 as the start date and the conference championship on Dec. 19.
The CEOs also declined Friday to approve a return for Pac-12 basketball, which has been postponed through 2020.
However, with the NCAA pushing the season back two weeks, to Nov. 25, the conference likely will revise its calendar to align with the rest of major college basketball.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 is the only member of the Power Five currently in football purgatory. The ACC and Big 12 are underway. The SEC’s season starts next week, and the Big Ten announced Wednesday that it will open the weekend of Oct. 23-24.
The Pac-12 has been dealt a more difficult course back to the field with the wildfires across the west, the level of coronavirus spread in some regions of the conference and, until this week, the state health restrictions in California and Oregon.
The conference’s medical experts believe that point-of-care antigen tests, scheduled to arrive at the end of this month, will keep the players safe.
Another issue central to any revised calendar is the time required for the players to prepare physically for a season.
The medical advisors have indicated that six weeks would be needed. In order to play on Halloween, teams would have to start training Monday, Sept. 21.
For teams with large numbers of players living at home during the sports shutdown — players who must quarantine upon returning to campus — that’s an extremely tight window.
The athletic directors prefer Oct. 31 as the start, but Nov. 7 is more likely because it would suit all the teams.
With kickoff the first Saturday of November, teams would have six weeks of regular-season play prior to the conference championship game.
The conference could consider boosting schedules by allowing each team to play an eighth game on the weekend of the championship, just not at the same time as the title game.
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Well, as is normal, I had no idea what I was writing about. Wilner posted an article about why the Pac had to postpone a decision. Wilner states that the reason is that not all conference schools are on the same path. SC, Utah, AZ and ASU can be ready by 10/31; UCLA cannot be ready until 11/14 (at the earliest). I read somewhere else (but not reported by Wilner) that Stanford does not want to play at all. It appears that Utah and the two AZs have been working out like the Big 10. Wilner posted that the SC… Read more »
This is a very important topic as it might mean the end of the PAC12 as a Power Five conference. If the schools don’t learn to give and take it will not look good to the nation. Stanford, UCLA, and Cal are the Ivy League type schools. But they are more than that. They are members of a Power conference and sports are an important part. If they do not at least be good sports it will come back at them later. At the expense of the Pac12. The season can be stopped at any time if there is a… Read more »
First look today of the new SOFI stadium. Very impressive. When fans are allowed the experience could be something special. SOFI could be the west coast version of Jerry World.
If Stanford doesn’t want to play, move on without them. It makes no sense to cancel a season over a virus that healthy 18-22 year olds don’t get hospitalized, or in almost all cases, don’t even get sick. If the School Presidents look at this logically(doubtful) they would realize it makes no sense to part of the lockdown left.
Stanford knows they will suck this year, and they may be part of the reasoning.
Here are the YTD COVID19 statistics for California: for the 18-34 age bracket, there have been a total of 268,879 confirmed cases, for the same age bracket there have been 216 deaths. These stats can be found in the Los Angeles Daily News (formerly The Valley News and Greensheet) today. I imagine that if you further reduced the age range to 18-25 the number of deaths would go down significantly.
John, Amazing isn’t it. All the data I have read shows that for kids in the 18-25 age group, the flu is more deadly than Covid. For folks in our age group, that is NOT true! Thus, the approaches being used regarding kids on campus, playing sports, etc is simply not supported by science. The problem, as I see it, is not the kids, but the staff (which can be a significant risk depending on age and other circumstances). Watch and see how many players in the SEC, ACC, Big 12 or SEC get hospitalized over it (I think Ed… Read more »
Ed O was great last night on 60 minutes. Vintage Ed. Best recruiter in the world, absolutely. Absolutely tireless and devoted to the prospect that he can out-recruit any coach in the country for any kid he wants, any day of the week. Not many guys are made like Ed. That’s exactly what he was like when he was recruiting for USC and reeling in talent like nobody’s business. Imagine trying to beat Pete Carroll and Ed O down the stretch for a big-timer! It didn’t happen much. The biggest recruiting loss I can remember Pete/Ed ever having was Poly’s… Read more »
I agree, but what made Ed so extra exceptional IMO was his ability to spot potential in kids during their Soph. or Jr. years in high school — and then stay on them for 2-3 years. In fact, I think BKU is one such example of whom Ed stayed on when he was merely a sophomore. Wow, if only that evaluation talent was teachable.
Well, Ed’s now making $7 mil per year. It wasn’t always easy for the big guy, but he sure cashed in when it counted. Last year’s LSU team was about as good as they ever come. I can’t wait to see how he does with the highly-modified 2020 Tiger model.
Good for Ed. Nobody has ever worked harder.
And how many of these deaths happened to sickly kids who certainly would not be Division 1 level athletes.
I am reading now that they could not make a decision because Stanford is standing in the way.
If it is 6 games ….Have all teams play their rivals twice (Wash &Wash St /Ore&Ore St/ Cal&Stanford …………..Col&Utah/Ariz&Ariz St……USC&UCLA)<<<< They all play each other twice and then play division games …..There is your 6 games ……FIGHT ON !!!!!
I’d love to play UCLA and Chocolate Chip Kelly twice in 2020! Please…
Happy Sunday to all! Lets go thru the obvious issues that the Council of Presidents has to work thru to set a start day for the start of the season, assuming the Pac is going to attempt to play (and you will see why I say ‘attempt’). First, they will need to decide how many practices are needed for a team to be ready to play in a manner which is “safe”. It appears that the consensus is six weeks, which means, as far as I can tell means 36 practices. (six practices a week for six weeks). Second, they… Read more »
I would add, as the Council had to postpone making decision for a week, it is clear that the basis issues had not be worked out. My guess is some of the Presidents actually asked some questions and the Pac 12 staff was unable to answer them. The level of incompetence in the Pac12 athletic staff is truly astonishing. If it were a private business, it would be in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I happen to like the idea of moving officially to a Power 4 as the Pac has effectively removed itself from elite level football.
You’ve just spent more time on this RJJ than the Pac-12 CEO committee has! ✌
2022 three-star/pro-style QB Devin Brown (6-2. 190), Queen Creek, Ariz., committed to USC today over offers from ARIZ, ASU, MICH ST, ND, UW and ORE, among others. This is USC’s first football commit since late July.
It seems like forever since I have read about a new commitment. We need more for the coming class though.
I was asking the magic 8 ball if any PAC 12 teams have a chance in the national championship race. First it said, “Its doubtful. I shook it up and asked the same question and it said, “I’m just a toy ask the Ouija board.” Finally I borrowed a Ouija board from the Zozo community apartments in Fontana, and tried again. It said, “If the rest of power 5 embraces a 6 game winner then maybe, but don’t count on it.”
So my money is on 6 games and no bowl. Fortunately I am frequently ignored and wrong.
The level of incompetence with these chancellors/presidents is coming to light. Why would they have not returned all athletes that want to play this year to the schools as soon as the new testing protocol was announced? There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for this. Why has there been no one asking the Pac-12 if they were talking to local health officials about a return to practice? This should have been done the second that the testing was figured out. NO EXCUSE. I would also have asked the coaches/medical directors if they could construct a schedule that allowed them to return… Read more »
TV, you nailed it. Folts fits perfectly.
This will work out to be another display of the inept leadership in the Pac12. Why they couldn’t decide Friday? No they would rather postpone for another week. What is the old saying, Sh!t or get off of the pot? The virus is calming down, testing is in real time, even the smoke from the fires is becoming less. What other reason can these clowns come up with. How much of their postponement is political or ego.
I tend to believe it is just plain incompetence.
Sorry, U. T. There is a healthy dose of politics in this decision along with every decision the uni presidents and the governors make on the west coast. It’s all about how much the power they can exert over individuals.
West Coast governors, all tree who are insane, are looking forward to the flu session.
That’s when they really get to exert more muscle. Uni presidents are of the same ilk.
I fully agree with that. But if you had a corporation would you want any of them due to the overall incompetence they have shown? If they are not making the best decisions for the institution they represent then they are incompetent.