HOW FALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL CAN WORK IN THE PAC-12
The dream, of course, was to start on time and play through the fall with no disruptions or abbreviations, no suspensions or delays or forfeitures. That didn’t happen. Here, we present the Hotline Plan for the Pac-12 to play eight conference games.
• Delay the start of the Pac-12 season by two weeks, to Sept. 19, creating a cushion for schools to stop and start their way through training camp during this summer spike. The delay would also account for possible micro-outbreaks on campus when students return for fall classes. For the Pac-12’s seven semester schools, instruction begins the week of Aug. 24. If we presume a high-risk fortnight in the second half of the month, the Sept. 19 start date would come after quarantine and isolation periods.
• Move the Pac-12 football championship game back one week, to Dec. 12, to create 13 Saturdays for the regular season.
• Drop one of the four cross-division games for each team. (Yes, this plan requires deft work by the conference schedule-makers. Also, the head coaches will just have to deal.)
• Create a two-on/one-off rotation in which there are full slates of games for two weeks, followed by an empty (flex) Saturday. That flex Saturday every third weekend would be used for games that couldn’t be played as scheduled because of roster issues related to quarantine/isolation. There would be one additional flex weekend after the conclusion of the eight-game schedule to allow for makeups needed to 1) crown division champions or 2) settle the postseason pecking order. (How bowl berths will be decided in a shortened season is one of many questions that have not been answered.) The format would be as follows ...
• Games on: Sept. 19 and 26, Oct. 10, 17 and 31, Nov. 7, 21 and 28
• Flex Saturdays: Oct. 3 and 24, Nov. 14 and Dec. 5
• Pac-12 championship: Dec. 12 Central to the plan is that each three-week rotation creates the potential for a 14-day break from competition, allowing for the full COVID-19 quarantine and isolation periods (if needed to get players back on the field). We recommend the conference eliminate the Thursday and Friday games this season. (Again, ESPN and Fox have no choice but to be flexible.) The Pac-12 needs everyone on the same schedule: The same competition schedule and the same testing schedule. The testing days and times should be established before the season by the conference’s medical advisory committee, based on the time required for results. (Three tests per week are needed, at minimum.) What’s more, the conference should designate one hotel in each city for use by all the visiting teams. In other words, every aspect of the football season stays within the Pac-12 family. The tighter the safety measures, the better. Pool the operational expenses (hotels, cleaning, testing) and split the total 12 ways. Pool the game revenue (ticket sales, parking) and split the total 12 ways. It’s the right move in an all-wrong year.