With a fall Pac-12 football season now a reality, Arizona State head football coach Herm Edwards’ Zoom call with media members Friday centered around how his team will be able to pull this season off and the uniqueness of the seven-game schedule.
Edwards discussed the safety component of playing this season with the coronavirus pandemic still raging on. He said the Pac-12 testing agreement with the Quidel Corporation will help everyone involved but was still nervous about the virus sidelining players, especially his quarterbacks.
“It’s not so much if you get the virus,” Edwards said. “How many people are exposed when you get the virus, right, on the team? That’s the one that gets you. And I think every team is nervous about that. Imagine this. One of the backup quarterbacks. One of them gets it. They’re sitting in the room with the quarterbacks. I got no quarterback or coach for two weeks. Jayden Daniels is almost in a bubble in the locker room. I don’t have anybody close to him.”
Edwards was asked how he felt about the Pac-12’s decision to play seven games in seven weeks versus other conferences leaving some dates open in case the virus causes games to be postponed. He said games would just have to be canceled in the Pac-12 and wasn’t sure games postponed in other conferences will be made up anyway.
“If it hits, two teams are out,” Edwards explained. “And that’s just the luck of the draw. You’re hoping that doesn’t happen. You got your fingers crossed. But who knows? Even those teams that started earlier, they said they’re going to make it up. There’s no guarantee they’re going to make it up. On paper, it sounds like they’re going to make it up. But we don’t know what this is going to look like two months from now, or a month from now, a week from now. We’re going week to week. I mean, they shut the Golden Domers (Notre Dame) down. You can’t shut the Golden Domers down.”
The Pac-12 playing seven games mean the conference will play the least amount of games of any of the Power Five conferences. The ACC is playing 11 games, the SEC is playing ten games, the Big Ten is playing eight games, and the Big 12 is playing a 9+1 schedule. So few games have some wondering if the Pac-12 has a realistic shot of having a team in the College Football Playoff.
Edwards said it would be “interesting” to see what the selection committee decides to do as far as who is selected for the playoff. He compared this season of college football to the 1982 NFL season when there was a players’ strike, which shortened the season to nine games. The Sun Devils’ head coach said there would be an “asterisk” next to this season of college football just like the 1982 NFL season but said he is only going to worry about coaching. He said he would leave the decision of who gets in up to the committee.
Edwards did speak on an expansion of the playoff, saying it is inevitable the playoff will expand to more than four teams down the road. He said anyone who thinks otherwise is “naïve” because of the money involved and the popularity of the playoff.
With the virus still an issue, teams around the country have had to deal with players opting out of the 2020 season. Edwards and said, “it wasn’t even a concern” with his team.
“They actually came up to me and said, ‘coach, I’m not going,’” Edwards stated. “Some of the veteran guys, the senior guys walked in before I can even get to them. They said ‘coach, I’m here, don’t worry about that.’ So we were fortunate that way.”
Edwards went on to talk more about the seniors, saying this season is like a “get out of jail free” card for due to the NCAA’s decision to allow players to add an extra year of eligibility even if a season is played in 2020. He said seniors have a chance to pad their résumés in the seven-game season but if they struggle on the field or come down with an injury, they can come back next season.
The later start has provided the Sun Devils with more time to install the new offensive and defensive schemes they will be running. As for as the benefits that it may entail, Edwards said it would be premature to predict any potential benefit.
“You don’t know how it’s going to look until you play,” Edwards said. “Ask me that question about after week three. Everything looks good on paper until you actually have to go play it and the players have to do it. We haven’t had an opportunity to do that yet.”
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