Pac-12 sets start dates for football, basketball seasons
There will be Pac-12 sports this fall after all.
After deciding in August to postpone all competitions until the end of 2020, the conference reversed course on Thursday. Thanks to a new partnership that will provide point-of-care testing, the Pac-12 will now open the 2020 football season on Nov. 6.
Each team will play seven games against its divisional opponents along with two cross-divisional opponents. The championship game will take place on Friday, Dec. 18. Every team not appearing in the title game will also play that day. The complete football schedule will be released at a later date.
Schools can begin practice immediately if they have state and local approval. UW’s players returned to campus last weekend after a three-week break. After completing a seven-day quarantine. UW head football coach Jimmy Lake said the Huskies will resume practices in T-shirts and shorts on Tuesday.
Men’s and women’s basketball will open on Nov. 25, which lines up with the NCAA’s official start date for those sports. Further details regarding the basketball schedule will be released at a future date.
No fans will be permitted at competitions taking place on Pac-12 campuses.
“I’m extremely excited for our student-athletes, coaches, staff and Husky Nation with today’s news,” UW athletic director Jen Cohen said in a release. “Our students have demonstrated their commitment to a healthy return to sport the last few months while back in our footprint and I’m so happy they can now take this a step further and have the opportunity to compete this fall. I’m just so proud of the way they have handled this situation and the resiliency they have shown each step of the way.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with today’s decision by the Pac-12 CEO Group and would like to thank the Pac-12 Medical Advisory Committee for everything they’ve done to get us to this point. I would also like to recognize our medical team, as well as strength and conditioning staff at the UW for their tireless work the last six months which has allowed us the ability to now return to competition in the safest environment possible. Since the onset, they have prioritized the health and well-being of everyone involved and have exemplified the deep care for each of our students.”
Football details
The Big Ten, who also postponed fall sports in August, made the decision last week to launch its football season on Oct. 24. The Pac-12 CEO Group met just days later on Sept. 18, but the university presidents and chancellors postponed a decision until Thursday.
Oregon president Michael Schill said during a media webinar on Thursday that the group wanted the extra time to meet with students, faculty and staff and board members.
“The group that was most in my mind was the two groups of student-athletes that I met with,” Schill said. “They were so desirous of going back to practice and play. This is something that they dream of. This is something that they want for their future. This is something that they’ve been deprived of.
“COVID-19 has taken so much away from these students. I didn’t want to take this away from them. If I could feel comfortable with their health and their safety, that we weren’t jeopardizing it, then to give them this ability to control their dreams was something I felt I should vote in favor of.”
Schil said the CEO Group discussed the pros and cons between starting the season in the and winter and starting it in the fall, with the benefits of a fall start ultimately winning out. He stressed that the choice had “nothing to do with money.”
Heading into Thursday’s meeting, the conference was reportedly split between starting Oct. 31, Nov. 7 or having some teams start on Halloween with the rest opening a week later. Schill said several options were discussed, but the final decision was “supported by everybody.”
“It ultimately was not a controversial decision,” Schill said. “We wanted to be together. We wanted to respect the well-being of students. We didn’t want anybody to kind of rush in.”
Scott added that the conference was committed to giving teams the full six weeks of ramp-up time that was recommended by the football oversight committee.
While the Pac-12 will play fewer games than the other Power Five Conferences, Scott said he believes teams will “have every opportunity” to be in the College Football Playoff conversation.
“We’re all very humbly going into the season realizing there could be disruptions along the way,” Scott said. “Our fellow conferences have built that into their schedules with bye weeks. We’ve seen that play out within the first few weeks. No one knows how many games they are going to get in.
“It’s going to be a challenge for the committee this year. They are going to have more subjectivity than they’ve ever had in terms of different schools, a different number of games, player availability. … Our schools are going to play a meaningful number of games, high-level games, with our championship including a couple of days before that final CFP meeting. We absolutely have the opportunity to be in the playoffs and our student-athletes are coming back to compete for that.”
The Pac-12 was the last Power Five Conference to decide to return. The ACC and the Big 12 have already started their seasons and the SEC will open this weekend.
“It took us a while,” said Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson. “It was deliberate. It was methodical and at times exhaustive. But that was necessary to do the right thing, and I think we did that.”
Basketball details
While a start date has been announced, much about the college basketball season remains a mystery. Scott said he was holding a call with conference coaches Thursday evening.
The NCAA allows practice to begin on Oct. 14 and Scott said Pac-12 teams can open on that day if permitted by state and local authorities.
Scott said there are several models under consideration for non-conference and conference basketball scheduling. Everything is on the table, he said, including several teams from the West forming a pod to play non-conference games.
The Pac-12 is waiting for a decision from the NCAA Medical Advisory Committee and Board to establish minimum testing standards for non-conference opponents and early season tournaments.
“We are committed to ensuring that any non-conference opponent will be committed to the same testing standard that we have,” Scott said. “There’s still a few pieces that need to be worked out.”
Most leagues are looking to play between 18 and 20 conference games, Scott said, but that decision will depend on the number of non-conference games and early season tournaments. Men’s basketball was supposed to launch a 20-game conference schedule in 2020. That might not happen this year, but Scott said that shouldn’t be conflated with a lack of long-term desire to expand the schedule.
Each university will determine practice schedules for the remaining winter sports, and final competition schedules will be released at a later date. Fall sports for which post-season championships were postponed by the NCAA until the spring will be conducted starting January 2021. Practice will occur during the fall as permitted by NCAA rules.
Competition with non-conference opponents will be contingent upon those opponents implementing minimum testing protocols per NCAA and Pac-12 COVID-19 Medical Advisory Committee recommendations.
Testing update
The Pac-12’s testing partnership with diagnostic test leader Quidel Corp. made the return of athletics possible. When he announced the deal, Scott said Quidel would allow teams to test athletes in close-contact sports daily and get results within 15 minutes.
The testing equipment has arrived on campuses, and Oregon State associate athletic director Dr. Doug Aukerman said the training process is underway.
According to a release from the Pac-12, the testing process will work as follows: “For universities utilizing daily antigen testing, at least one weekly PCR test will also be administered for each student-athlete, in addition to all positive tests to be confirmed with a PCR test. All testing recommendations will be reviewed and updated as needed on an ongoing basis.”
To address long-term cardiac concerns such as myocarditis, Pac-12 programs will also implement cardiac monitoring protocols for athletes who test positive. The conference will also participate in a national COVID-19 cardiac registry, which will allow experts to monitor health outcomes in athletes.
“The advent of the daily testing and the advent of being able to get PCR back quickly along with the antigen testing ensures that our student-athletes can get back to practice with the chances of spreading COVID to one and another diminished,” Aukerman said.
“You can’t take it to zero, but it certainly mitigates it. It makes the other risks that we were concerned about in terms of cardiomyopathy something that we can help manage because we can identify those that may be at risk in terms of having COVID and spreading it and removing them so that they don’t spread it to their peers and their teammates. All of that in place really made us feel comfortable that we could manage it at a safe manner and make the recommendation that we could move forward.”
Community prevalence remains a concern for several schools, and Schill said the testing was “necessary was not sufficient” for the Pac-12 to be able to resume play.
Before the conference made its decision on Thursday, Boulder County in Colorado prohibited all gatherings of college-aged residents — an order that also applies to University of Colorado athletes. According to the Daily Camera’s Brian Howell, the Buffaloes will be unable to practice for at least two weeks.
Shortly after, The San Jose Mercury News’ Jon Wilner reported that California health officials committed to expanding cohorts to a workable number for football practice.
“Exactly when each school can resume practice still will need to be cleared between each school and their local public health authority in some of the markets,” Scott said. “We’ve received comfort and clarifications that are very, very helpful in terms of the confidence to move forward, but there are some exact details to work out on a school-by-school basis.”
Even as the Pac-12 prepares to launch a season, Schill stressed the importance of caution.
“”We’re moving forward now, but we’re not moving forward with our eyes shut,” Schill said. “We are going to be paying attention to what’s happening. If we start getting spikes that suggest that we are not sustainable, we will just stop playing. The value is the heath and safety of our players and our communities.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
