Pac-12 conference-only schedule cancels TCU’s season opener at Cal
The prayer that was the TCU football game at California in 2020 is off.
On Friday, the Pac-12 Conference followed the path of the Big Ten and announced that if it decides to play fall sports at all in 2020 it will be against in-conference opponents only.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry 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.”
TCU was scheduled to open its season at Cal in Berkeley on. Sept. 5.
“It is certainly disappointing that we will not be playing at Cal this year but we are looking at the other options and remain committed to playing 12 games,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said Friday evening.
As of right now, TCU would open the season on Sept. 12 at Amon G. Carter Stadium against Prairie View A&M, however, TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati recently suggested that that game might not happen if TCU didn’t think their opponent’s coronavirus testing procedures were sufficient.
As for TCU’s conference schedule, the Big 12 has thus far held off on canceling, or postponing, any fall sports.
TCU had discussed with Cal the possibility of flipping the location of their game to Fort Worth. In the last month, however, it has become apparent that college football would lose games to concerns over the coronavirus.
The Ivy League announced earlier this week that all fall sports are off. The Big Ten announced yesterday that if it can play fall sports, it will only play conference games. The ACC is expected to make a similar announcement shortly.
By eliminating non-conference games, the power leagues of college football essentially bought an extra month to save a season.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 6:35 PM.
