Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott Wants to Align Football Season With Big Ten
There has been plenty of speculation about when the Big Ten is going to reschedule its postponed football season. In fact, there are lots of rumors circulating that there will be a new vote among league members as early as today. But nobody has been willing to go on the record about that and several national reporters say there is no vote happening.
Regardless of when the Big Ten gets back on the field, there is considerable chatter about the Pac-12 wanting to align its potential spring season with its Midwestern counterparts. In fact, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has as much - he's apparently expressed that interest directly to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.
ESPN college football analyst Heather Dinich joined the network's morning show Get Up on Friday and shared what she's been hearing.
"Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott pointed out, 'Look, we still have six schools that couldn't start right now if they wanted to. Four in California (Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC) and two in Oregon (Oregon, Oregon State),'" Dinich said. "The second main point that he made was he has been speaking to Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and he told him specifically that he would like their conferences to align so they could potentially have a meaningful postseason together. He didn't specifically say the Rose Bowl, but obviously that is the traditional game that he is talking about.
"I will say that I spoke with David Eades, the executive director of the Rose Bowl, and he said it is premature at this point to talk about two Rose Bowl games. They are hosting a semifinal for the CFP (College Football Playoff), but he did point out they've done it before. In 2010 and 2014 with the national championship for the BCS and the Rose Bowl."
ESPN college football analyst Marcus Spears then chimed in with his thoughts on the Big Ten and Pac-12 playing a season that would start in late November.
"One, I don't think the best players would play," Spears said. "Would it be meaningful? Yes, because you would still have some of those guys that need that particular time frame to play and possibly work on improving their draft status if that is the route they want to take. When we talk about players not wanting to play during this time period, we're talking about sure-fire guys. Guys that have the opportunity to go in the first round and have gotten grades already where they know they will go highly. Some guys are making that decision based on being drafted in rounds 1-3 and that's why they're opting out of the season.
"The second thing that comes to mind to me is, as we continue to see these developments, the climate for the Pac-12 and Big Ten changes. Why wouldn't they want to be aligned? They aligned on not playing. So at some point, when things develop like the new testing we're seeing and they continue to move forward, we would think they would have a conversation about trying to play. A part of this is about trying to save face by starting a season earlier than they had planned. Because there are three (power five) conferences that are about ready to kick off their seasons -- while the Big Ten and Pac-12 aren't -- so they need to capture some type of headline throughout this process in order to keep their conferences relevant. What it tells me is their initial decision was made too quick."
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