The Pac-12’s postponement of fall football felt like a dagger to the heart to all of us who love watching live mascots, after dark football and the best athletes on the West Coast have to offer. The loss of running with Ralphie and beating Colorado State every year is an extra sting for us Colorado football fans.
After too many weekends of believing our beloved Pac-12 football was gone, we finally have a spark of hope. According to ESPN, sources close to them say the Pac-12’s “most aggressive” plan for football is currently targeting a mid-to-late November start date.
This coincides with the news earlier this month that the Pac-12 partnered a deal with Quidel Corporation, a manufacturer of FDA-approved rapid tests that should allow that league to test student-athletes daily. These new testing systems will be on every campus by the end of the month, but the league still expects some short time will be needed to properly train staff on how to use them and to ensure proper testing protocols are in place.
A late November start date seems more realistic as schools in the states of California and Oregon still have not been cleared by public health officials to resume contact practices yet. There is also the wildfire crisis in the Pacific Northwest that could play a factor in a new start date.
This news is like music to our ears for us Colorado football fans. The new rapid testing available on all Pac-12 campuses will almost surely speed up the return to college football, something every football fan on the West Coast desperately needs right now.
Questions are still up in the air about whether or not the Pac-12 would allow fans in attendance, but judging from other conferences Pac-12 fans should be hopeful they will get to see their teams live. The SEC and Big 12 both allowed their teams to determine their own attendance capacity, and most are allowing 20%-25% capacity. For us Colorado football fans, this means 13,000 lucky Buff fans will be able to watch games live at Folsom Field.
Another storyline to follow will be the decision some players that previously opted out may end up deciding. Who will double back on their decision and who will stick to it? Curious and fun to think about indeed.
A mid-to-late November start after the first announcement of no Pac-12 football before 2021 sounds like a dream. In fact, I’m still waiting for someone to pinch me because I have to be asleep still. Wait actually don’t because this is the best dream I’ve had in a while.
Going off of my what-if Colorado football played their revised 2020 schedule predictions, us Buff fans may struggle to watch this upcoming season, but we’re thinking positively and if there’s one thing everybody can agree on, any football is better than no football. The return of NFL football should make all of us Colorado football fans hungry for a new season.
Cheers to and positive thoughts for a fall 2020 Colorado football season.
Photo courtesy of CUBuffs.com
My name is Colin Bailey and I’m a Los Angeles native and currently a Journalism Major/Sports Media Minor at the University of Colorado Boulder.