*** The Pac-12 Hotline newsletter is published each Monday-Wednesday-Friday during the college sports season and twice-a-week in the summer. (Sign up here for a free subscription.) This edition, from July 28, has been made available in archived form.
Timeline Trouble?
The Pac-12 won’t release its conference-only football schedule until the presidents and chancellors approve the revised plan.
They are meeting (remotely) on Friday, so we probably won’t have schedule news prior to that point.
The Hotline expects approval of the general framework — 10 games, delayed start, windows for makeup games, a flexible date for the championship game — but we’re particularly curious about one aspect: The opening week.
The working model, as we reported last week, calls for the season to begin Sept. 19, which represents a two-week delay from the normal start.
That feels overly optimistic.
To hit the Sept. 19 start, teams would need to begin training camp by Aug. 21, at the latest, for the full four week ramp.
Given the current coronavirus metrics, the public health restrictions in many Pac-12 cities and the overlap of training camp with the return of students to campus, we’re deeply skeptical practice can begin three-and-a-half weeks from today.
The disparate academic calendars add a layer of complication:
Seven schools are on the semester system and start fall instruction in just over three weeks; five schools are on the quarter system and don’t start for nine weeks.
The local health conditions in Los Angeles and Berkeley in the middle of August could be markedly different than the conditions in Seattle and Eugene in late September.
Finding a competition schedule and practice calendar that suits everyone is an added complication.
“They are assuming some success in the next month or two (against the virus),” a source told the Hotline. “Some of it will be up to the public health people.”
The beauty of the Pac-12’s aggressive schedule is the flexibility provided by the moveable date for the championship game, which could be played on the weekends of Dec. 4-5, 11-12 or 18-19.
If they can’t make the Sept. 19 start date work, those matchups can be moved to the back end of the schedule.
If they can’t make Sept. 19 or 26 work, both weeks could be moved to December.
In our opinion, the keys to Pac-12 football this fall are 1) campuses and communities getting control of the virus by the middle of September, and 2) the presidents being willing to wait out that process before pulling the plug.
Time is an asset — the asset — but only if accompanied by patience at the CEO level.
Because of the flexibility with the title game, the conference could start the season on Oct. 24, play eight games and finish on Dec. 18-19.
Such a delay would allow schools to wait until late September … two full months from today … before starting training camp.
That seems more realistic than starting the show in three weeks. — Jon Wilner
Hot Off The Hotline
We’ve been busy since the newsletter was last published (one week ago today) …
• The Pac-12 stock report gave credit where it’s due: to commissioner Larry Scott and conference officials, who have received positive reviews for their work supporting the campuses during the sports shutdown.
• Once more, in case you missed the link above: Our story on the revised football schedule, which features 10 games, a late start, a later finish and built-in makeup dates.
• Pac-12 athletic directors aren’t seriously considering a spring season, at least not yet. They’re confident the revised schedule buys them the essential element: time.
• While several Pac-12 schools have moved to remote-only instruction this fall, football workouts continue. How are universities justifying what appears to be a double standard (i.e., campus isn’t safe for students but is safe for athletes)? To this point, it’s about the fine print.
• ICYMI: The most recent edition of the Hotline newsletter identified Greek Row as the greatest obstacle facing college football programs. If you want football, shut down the frats. Previous editions of the newsletter are available in archived form.
Support the Hotline: Several Hotline articles will remain free each month (as will the newsletter), but for access to all content, you’ll need to subscribe. I’ve secured a rate of $1 per week for a full year or just 99 cents for the first month, with the option to cancel anytime. Click here. And thanks for your loyalty.
Covid Corner
(Note: The Hotline newsletter includes links to sites that could require a subscription once the number of free views has been reached.)
• What impact might the the Miami Marlins outbreak have on college football? The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach sought feedback from Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who noted: “I think we’ve always realized and been advised that we will have disruptions during the season (if it is played). People are going to be infected, and there will be disruptions. The circumstances in recent days are representative of that.” … Yahoo”s Pete Thamel writes of the MLB problems: “It leaves college administrators and coaches wondering whether this marks the beginning of the line of demarcation between bubbled and non-bubbled sporting ventures in 2020.”
• Meanwhile, The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel believes it’s time to consider a drastic measure: “It’s time to start talking how to play college football in a bubble.” Mandel proposes that each conference designate a host city, with each team sequestered in a hotel for everything but practice and games. (Salt Lake City would be the Pac-12’s host.) “The best hope is to get them the heck away from their campuses,” Mandel writes. “And thanks to advancements in virtual learning, they can do so without missing any of their classes.”
• It’s decision week — probably — for several major conferences, with a deadline looming for training camp to start on time. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde examines the landscape, with a focus on the three power leagues (SEC, ACC and Big 12) that have not yet jettisoned their non-conference games.
• ESPN’s Andrea Adelson looks at specific issues facing the conferences in their pursuit of football this fall, with details on the essential and vexing matter of testing. (If they can’t get that solved, there’s no hope.)
• USA Today’s Dan Wolken digs into a critical issue that has received too little attention: The impact a canceled season could have on the athletes’ mental health. “A fall without football would present an entirely new challenge for players to cope with.” (The Hotline addressed the topics of mental health and diet in June, in our look at the decision to bring athletes back to campus for summer workouts.)
In The News
• The top story on this Tuesday unfolded on Monday, when Peyton Watson, the top basketball prospect in California, committed to UCLA. The five-star wing from Long Beach Poly, coveted by many top programs on the west coast, adds to coach Mick Cronin’s early-tenure momentum in Westwood.
• Washington and USC are among the football programs benefitting from the desire of recruits to remain close to home during the pandemic, reports 247sports.
• Washington State is optimistic about the fall, thanks largely to a positive test rate (among athletes) that’s below one percent. “The rate we’re headed in Pullman right now,” athletic director Pat Chun said, “we feel good about our chances to get fall sports going sometime in September.”
• USC reported zero positives in its latest round of athlete testing. (Remarkable.)
• Same for Oregon State, which has now tested more than 200 athletes over the past six weeks.
• Utah’s secondary, a strength last season, is a question mark in 2020.
• One of Stanford’s top freshmen, lineman Myles Hinton, might not play this season if his parents aren’t satisfied with NCAA safety protocols. (His father, Chris, is a former All Pro.)
• Arizona is moving to a mobile-only ticket delivery system this year. Good chance other schools will do the same, given that paper tickets are touch points.
• No biggie, but interesting: Oregon State reported nine secondary NCAA violations across multiple sports.
• Remember way back in June, when the Power Five conferences were a big, happy family? So much for the alignment, writes the AP’s Ralph Russo.
• CBS Sports columnist Tom Fornelli believes 10-game conference schedules — of the kind the Pac-12 plans to deploy this fall — should become a permanent piece of the college football machinery.
• Athlon’s Magazine ranked the conferences. Not surprisingly, the Pac-12 didn’t fare well.
• Two Pac-12 talents made the short list of potential players of the year in college basketball, although one of them might not actually play college basketball.
Looking Ahead
What’s coming on the Pac-12 Hotline:
• We’ll have full coverage of the schedule release, which is expected Friday. (Although when the presidents get involved, you never know about timing.)
• Scheduled for next week: The debut of our series examining the push for greater diversity within the Pac-12, as viewed from the campus, conference and external perspectives.
• An assessment of coronavirus risk in an inherently risky sport, with help from an expert.
The next newsletter is scheduled for Friday. Enjoy it? Please forward this email to friends (sign up here). If you don’t, or have other feedback, let me know: pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.
