The Pac-12 conference is seriously looking to play football in the fall. According to 247Sports national recruiting analyst Greg Biggins, the league’s start date will likely be Nov. 7 and teams will play a seven-game schedule.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has communicated to the CEO Group a six-week period of practices should be required before the start of a football season. Some football players have gone home after campuses limited in-person classes and the Pac-12 initially canceled the fall season in August. Players, however, have been asked to be prepared to return next week, sources at several universities tell 247Sports. Oregon players were asked last week to return Sunday.
Upon return, every school in the conference will have the ability to conduct daily antigen tests via Quidel Corporation beginning Sept. 30, though some will have tests in hand earlier. The tests provide results within 20 minutes.
On Wednesday, important steps were taken. Both Oregon Governor Kate Brown and California Governor Gavin Newsom issued remarks saying they would work towards the necessary steps towards allowing contact practices. Oregon’s health authority granted the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers a needed exemption to resume contact practices while California has passed the issue to the local county health authorities for each of the four Pac-12 programs in the state. By late Wednesday, rivals USC and UCLA teamed up to ask Los Angeles County health officials to allow full-contact practices.
“Some good progress today with the Governors of California and Oregon sending some strong signals that they’re supportive and that state regulations won’t be hurdles,” Pac-12 Scott told SportsCenter host Neil Everett on Wednesday.
“This combined with access to daily testing which we’ve secured, gives our medical professionals comfort that we can return safely. So we’re gonna figure out what this all means. We still need approval from the local health officials in the counties in California and Oregon. But we’re going to push the envelope. Our student-athletes want to play, our coaches want to play. Our schools want to do so if we can do so safely, and today was a big step forward toward that.”
The ultimate goal for the Pac-12 would be to compete for the College Football Playoff. Three of the Power Five conferences, the ACC, Big 12, and SEC, are starting their seasons in September working to play at least 10 games. The Big Ten announced on Wednesday that they will start their season on October 24th, allowing for an eight-game schedule and a conference championship game on December 19th, the day before the College Football Playoff final four is set to be announced.
Scott told SportsCenter that the conference will have a late start compared to the other conferences but they are working to be included in the College Football Playoff and have a meaningful season.
