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When the Big Ten announced the return of football to their conference a couple of weeks ago, everyone figured it was just a matter of time until the Pac-12 followed suit.
Last Thursday, the conference did just that, announcing a seven game schedule that would start in the first week of November. That’s great news! Now... What will it look like?
When the conference announced their return, officials said we can expect a schedule “in the coming days.” The days have come and gone, and we’re still waiting on the schedule.
On Tuesday, WSU Director of Athletics Pat Chun joined former Pac-12 Network anchor Mike Yam on SiriusXM Radio to talk about when we can expect to see the schedule, and discuss how the decision to return came together.
When can we expect the @pac12 schedule to be released?@WSUCougars AD @pat_chun joined @Mike_Yam to discuss that & why seven was right number for the Conference of Champions! pic.twitter.com/YKQDFBxI4l
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) September 29, 2020
“We all understand how expeditious we need to move to come to finality,” Chun told Yam. “As a League, we all know we have to have a schedule, hopefully, we’re targeting by the end of the week.”
Obviously, there are a lot of working parts going into the creation of this last minute schedule. Chun compared the process to solving a Rubik’s Cube, saying that no school will be 100 percent happy. He also mentioned that the group of AD’s tasked with creating the schedule has been working with TV partners, which obviously throws another wrench into the whole equation.
As for the process to approving the current plan, Chun said the seven game model was the one that worked best for them, adding that he doesn’t believe that the lack of games will put the conference at a disadvantage when it comes to the College Football Playoff.
“We think, top to bottom, our league is as strong or stronger than any league in terms of depth,” Chun said. “Whatever puts our best team forward, obviously, we’ll advocate for.”
You can see a clip from Chun’s interview in the Tweet above. As for what the schedule might end of looking like, Jon Wilner of the Mercury News gave his take in the links below.
Links
Pac-12: 2020 football schedule should include 9 a.m. kickoffs
The conference will release the bulk of the seven-game schedule this week after the vote to restart the season. Without fans in the stadiums, 9 a.m. kickoffs make even more sense.
The Pac-12 is eligible for the College Football Playoff, but the climb to get there is steep - The Salt Lake Tribune
Once the Pac-12 announced last week that it would push forward with a fall football season, it didn’t take very long for one key big-picture topic to come to the forefront.
Huskies confident they'll be ready when Pac-12 season begins
A report from over the Cascades as UW returns to practice on Montlake.