Pac-12 releases statement regarding Big Ten's decision to return

Following breaking news that the Big Ten was going to resume to action in late October, the Pac-12, as the only Power 5 still not playing, released a statement essentially saying nothing has changed

The weekend of October 23-24 is going to be an extremely lonely one for the Pac-12 conference.

Not only will the Big 12, SEC and ACC be midway through their respective seasons, the Big Ten will officially be kicking off its season — and the Pac-12 will be at home watching from the confines of its couch.

Pac-12 this morning pic.twitter.com/2MAvP2R1Wl

— kwade (@KwadeSays) September 16, 2020

With no plans to resume action ASAP, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott issued a statement on the current state of the Pac-12 with the Big Ten electing to resume play...

“At this time, our universities in California and Oregon do not have approval from state or local public health officials to start contact practice,” Scott said. “We are hopeful that our new daily testing capability can help satisfy public health official approvals in California and Oregon to begin contact practice and competition. We are equally closely monitoring the devastating fires and air quality in our region at this time. We are eager for our student-athletes to have the opportunity to play this season, as soon as it can be done safely and in accordance with public health authority approvals.”

Pac-12 fans seeing the Big Ten news like: pic.twitter.com/99O6JIwJeR

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 16, 2020

While this is terribly disappointing news for the Pac-12, it's still not that surprising. 

The Pac-12, or mainly the West Coast, is going through much more serious issues that attempting to play a college football season. Both California and Oregon on fire, literally — so even if they were allowed to play, games in Eugene and Corvallis would not have taken place this week, let alone practicing/preparing to play.

According to Paul Finebaum, ESPN commentator, the Pac-12 has much more serious issues to deal with and a fall sports season is improbable.

“The Pac-12 is simply operating on a different timescale,” Finebaum said on, Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin. “They cannot make it back in time for the playoff, and some of it is legitimate. I mean, we all know there are serious, serious problems in California right now that — the Ohio State/Oregon game was supposed to be at Oregon over the weekend. That game could not have been played because of the wildfire situation. So, I mean there are serious issues that they have to deal with in addition to COVID, there's some ordinances out there in three or four states that would.

“I think, still preclude college football from going on, even though we all know pro football continues to exist out there. They're not going to be a part of the playoff. If they come back by Thanksgiving, they can at least play some semblance of a season, but they are really not part of this other conversation with the Big Ten."

Another issue holding the Pac-12 back is the fact that the governments from California and Oregon are restricting athletes from practicing college football, let alone playing.

“I believe we will be, (but) whether it’s in the fall or January 1 remains to be seen,” Scott said when asked about playing college football again. “This isn’t unfortunately our only challenge. We have six schools currently, the four California schools (USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal) and two of our Oregon schools (Oregon and Oregon State) that currently don’t have government approvals to have contact practices. I know the approval has been given for pro sports but not for college sports. We’ll need some help from the counties, public health officials to bless this and say it’s okay."

As of right now, there will be college football for the Pac-12 anytime soon, and definitely not by the time the Big Ten resumes play. Whether this is a right or wrong decision remains to be seen...???

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