Early Wake-Up Call From Pacific-12 Season Opener; Cal-Stanford Big Game Scheduled For Thanksgiving Weekend
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- It's going to be an early wake-up call for Arizona State and USC on Nov. 7 when the Pacific-12 kickoffs its COVID delayed season under a Pac-12 Conference scheduled released Saturday.
To capture a large national television audience, the game will kick off at 9 a.m. PST in Los Angeles. That means coaches will be awakening their teams at 5 a.m. to prepare for game day.
"Clay (Helton, USC head coach) and old and when you are are old like us we like getting up early," said ASU head coach Herm Edwards on Fox Sports College Football pregame show. "It's the players we have to worry about."
Helton said that after seven months off the field and the threat that the fall football season would be completely cancelled by the COVID pandemic, his players will be ready to go even if they are awakened before dawn on game day.
"The players are grateful to play a game," he said. "They are excited. You want to be under the brightest lights on the brightest staff."
Edwards was in agreement.
"I think any time you get to play football (you're excited)," he said. "We've been off for almost seven months and there were times going through this process, trying to figure out if we were going to play. Anytime you play a team like USC in your first game, on a national game, they are excited about playing."
The 2020 Pac-12 football schedule will feature a seven-game conference-only lineup culminating the weekend of December 18-19 with the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.
"The schedule announced today is highlighted by exciting and tough matchups that will showcase the depth of our Conference and position our teams well for CFP consideration and postseason Bowl opportunities," said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. "Importantly, our return to football competition will continue to place the health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 football as the highest priority."
Each team will play five divisional games and one crossover game against a non-division opponent, with these six games being evenly distributed between home and away for each team.
The seventh and final week will feature all twelve teams in action highlighted by the Pac-12 Football Championship Game on December 18, which this year will take place in a home-hosted format.
All North division rivalry games will take place on the Friday of Week 4 of the schedule, and all South division rivalry games will take place during Week 6 of the season.
The annual Big Game between Cal and Stanford will be played in Berkeley on Nov. 27th. USC-UCLA, meanwhile, will clash on Dec. 12th.
The crossover games are Arizona at Washington; Cal at Arizona State; Colorado at Stanford; Oregon State at Utah; UCLA at No. 14 Oregon; and Washington State at USC.
The schedule includes eight Friday evening games. The road team for the regular season Friday games is assured of a home game the preceding week.
Every football game through the first 6 weeks of the season will be televised nationally by a combination of ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox and FS1. Fox will televise the Football Championship game on Friday, December 18. Exact broadcast schedules will be determined at a later date.
