REPORTS: Pac-12 finalizing "extra" conference game for 10-game schedule

After reports surfaced over a week ago that Utah and Oregon were to kick off the 2020 regular season schedule, it appears the Pac-12 is finalizing each conference member's extra game

The annual Holy War between Utah and BYU is done for this upcoming season. 

Ohio State traveling to the loud confines of Autzen Stadium to play the Ducks is not happening.

USC kicking off its season with national champion contender Alabama is down the drain.

Stanford's premier out-of-conference showdown with Notre Dame is now an afterthought.

After announcing on July 10 that the Pac-12 would go to a conference-only schedule for the upcoming regular season, commissioner Larry Scott announced that the new schedules are expected to be out no later than July 31.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” Scott said in a statement. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”

The proposed plan was for a 10-game regular season schedule, which is closing in on being finalized

What that means is that each team would add one game against another conference member throughout the regular season. Each Pac-12 team already plays nine conference games, five of which come against their division foes and four more against teams from the opposing division. A conference championship game will then take place at the conclusion of the season as per the norm.

As to how a breakdown of that 10-game schedule would look, Tracy Pierson of Bruin Report Online, UCLA's 247sports page had this to say...

"The proposed 10-game, conference-only plan would kick off Sept. 12th, delaying the start of each program's season 1-2 weeks to adapt to coronavirus complications. The delayed start of the season to Sept. 12th would also dictate that the start of fall camp be pushed back to Aug. 14th," Pierson said. "The season would also have a couple other wrinkles. Two byes would be built in; most teams have one bye in their schedule, but another would be created. Also, each team would have three open dates on the back end, to accommodate any games that needed to be rescheduled."

Now according to the Stadium's Brent McMurphy, the Pac-12 is close to finalizing those extra games for each team — and sure enough a rematch of the Pac-12 championships game between Utah and Oregon is at the forefront.

Sources told @Stadium, Pac-12’s proposed 10th league game matchups:

Arizona vs. Cal
Arizona State vs. Stanford
Colorado vs. Oregon State
Oregon vs. Utah
UCLA vs. Washington
USC vs. Washington State

Pac-12 wants to add 1 game to original league schedule, @wilnerhotline reported

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 24, 2020

"We know it is particularly difficult to miss the rivalry matchups with BYU in these sports, and we look forward to continuing those as soon as we are able. These are truly unprecedented times, and we are working diligently to determine appropriate solutions while prioritizing the health and safety of everyone involved," said Mark Harlan, Utah's Director of Athletics. "Our conference and university leadership has provided great support and direction, informed by leading health experts and data. We will work with our colleagues at each of the non-conference institutions impacted by today's decision to reschedule those contests, and we will provide more information about our schedules and our home events when they become available."

The five other matchups include...

• Arizona vs. Cal
• Arizona State vs. Stanford
• Colorado vs. Oregon State
• UCLA vs. Washington
• USC vs. Washington State

While 10-games is nice and a rematch of the conference title game is a massive bonus, the games being mentioned would make for a distinct advantage and disadvantage for some teams IF the original schedule is kept.

For instance, depending on where the Utah-Oregon game (most likely SLC) and Arizona State-Stanford games are played, the away team is set to have six ROAD games and four HOME games on the season. The home teams in the Arizona-Cal and Oregon State-Colorado game are set to have six HOME games and four ROAD games on the year.

The schedule has yet to be released so it appears that it could all even out to five home and away games for each team — but that hasn't been finalized at all.

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