This has been a challenging year for college athletics and the Pac-12 may have had it worse than any other conference.
With the Pac-12’s fall football season being on and then off and then back on again, the conference was forced to start the season late. Unlike the Big 12, ACC, and SEC, all of which started in September, the Pac-12 had no wiggle room to make up games. This meant the conference attempted to fit seven games into seven weeks. And even with daily rapid COVID-19 testing, it seemed hard to believe no games would be canceled.
Unfortunately, Pac-12 games were canceled throughout the season due to COVID-19. Only two teams, UCLA and Oregon State, have played all six games heading into the season's final weekend. Oregon (3-2) will replace Washington (3-1) in the conference championship game due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Huskies’ program.
Despite the season being so truncated, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott had a positive outlook on how the season turned out when he met with media members via Zoom on Thursday. He said he is “proud” of how the season went and even praised the effectiveness of the testing program, despite the many canceled games.
“Having a rigorous testing program didn’t prevent individuals from contracting the virus out in the broader world,” Scott stated. “It contained outbreaks and made it possible to play with a reasonable degree of safety.”
USC has been the best team record-wise in the Pac-12 this season with a 5-0 record. However, the College Football Playoff selection committee has the Trojans at No. 13 in the country, far from where the conference wants its teams to be ranked.
When the resumption of athletic competition was announced, Scott was adamant in his belief the Pac-12 deserved consideration for the College Football Playoff. And while his opinion has shifted slightly, he still believes USC is being slighted. “We clearly understood … we were starting the season later than others,” Scott said. “For a variety of reasons, including approval from the state of California, state of Washington, state of Oregon, only on Sept. 27. The commitment of all of our coaches and football administrators to health and safety and wanting to make sure we had a full six weeks of ramp-up to get ready. And they didn’t want to shortchange that. And with that, we knew we were going to have fewer games than other conferences going in, and unfortunately, along the way, even USC had their issues and lost a game. So we knew we had a very thin margin for error. Having said that, USC has had a fantastic season. A lot of really compelling games and close games that they’ve found a way to win. And at 5-0, with a chance to play an excellent program, a big brand in Oregon Friday night on a big stage, we absolutely feel that they’re deserving of consideration for the playoff.”
Scott has been much maligned during his tenure as Pac-12 commissioner with fans and media members criticizing what seems like his every move. And with his contract up in mid-2022, many would like to see him gone and a new commissioner put in place.
Scott mostly steered clear of contract talks, but he did provide a window into when he may start seeking a new deal.
“My focus has really just been on working with our members and navigating through giving our student-athletes a chance to play, to play safely and the other challenges and opportunities we’ve got ahead of us, Scott explained. “So it’s not a conversation that I’ve had with our presidents and chancellors yet or frankly, I haven’t had a chance to spend a lot of time thinking about it yet either, but that’ll be sometime in 2021.”
One of the most interesting parts of Scott’s press conference on Thursday was when he brought up a bill recently proposed in Congress by Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) which would allow athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness.
Surprisingly, Scott seemed to favor the bill and a move toward student-athletes being able to profit off of their name, image and likeness.
“Overall, we continue to believe in the amateur model,” Scott said. Student-athletes should not be paid to play and shouldn’t be employees of their universities, but we believe we must recognize evolving attitudes, technologies, laws … are requiring us to explore how student-athletes can monetize their activities in a manner consistent with their fellow students and the collegiate model.”
Scott only mentioned Arizona State once in his press conference when he expressed his disappointment in the canceled games. He acknowledged how unsatisfying the Sun Devils’ year has been but still did not write off the Pac-12’s football season.
“Would I have liked to miss less games or have not had some of the challenges we have had to work through with contract tracing? Absolutely. There have been some devasting losses of games for Cal that had a very frustrating season. Arizona State missed three weeks in a row due to cases and contact tracing and all that. But we also got through quite a lot of games, and many of our teams had a chance to prove themselves.”