What could the 2020 Pac-12 football schedule look like? - OregonLive

The Pac-12 CEO group is expected to announce Thursday that it is proceeding with a football season this fall.

That leads to the next decision. How many games, and when does it start?

It is widely believed the Pac-12 will start either Oct. 31 or Nov. 7, play seven or eight games, and finish in time to earn a voice in the discussion for the College Football Playoff.

How would a seven or eight game Pac-12 schedule be laid out? We have a few thoughts.

First, some guidelines.

If the season begins Oct. 31, then it’s eight games. Seven regular season games, with an eighth game on the day of the Pac-12 championship game Dec. 19.

Should the season start Nov. 7, then it’s seven games. Six regular season games, with a seventh game on the day the Pac-12 championship game is played.

EIGHT GAMES

Let’s first look at an eight-game schedule, as many believe the Pac-12 will try to start Oct. 31.

The seven-game regular season is likely to consist of five divisional games, and two North-South crossovers. For Oregon State and Oregon, that means the rivalry game, plus North Division games against Stanford, California, Washington and Washington State.

Now for the crossover games, where OSU and Oregon play two teams from the South Division. Here’s where it takes some creativity.

One model we like is taking last year’s South Division standings and divide into two groups: the 1-2-3 finishers (call them Group A), and the 4-5-6 finishers (Group B). Same applies in the North.

North Group A: Oregon, California, Washington. North Group B: Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford. (in case of a standings tie, overall record prevails)

South Group A: Utah, USC and Arizona State. South Group B: UCLA, Arizona and Colorado.

Each North team plays one South Group A and one Group B team. Maybe for Oregon it’s Utah and Arizona. For Oregon State, it’s Arizona State and Colorado. The schedule maker would make the call on figuring out the Group A and B opponents for each team.

Another possibility is attempt to regionalize the crossover games and minimize travel, but it’s tricky. An easy one is match the Bay Area schools against the LA schools. But then what? Oregon schools vs. Arizona schools? Washington schools vs. Mountain schools?

Or maybe it’s the Bay Area schools against the Arizonas, the LA schools against Oregon and Washingtons vs. Mountains. Oregon and Oregon State might scream a little over that setup, though there are some recruiting advantages to playing USC and UCLA.

In any case, seven games, played Oct. 31, Nov. 7, 14, 21, 28 and Dec. 5 and 12.

The eighth game is Championship Saturday Dec. 18, where it’s straight crossovers: North No. 1 vs. South No. 1 for the Pac-12 title, No. 2 North vs. No. 2 South and so on down to North 6 vs. South 6.

As for home field during the seven-game regular season, we suggest sticking to the Pac-12′s original schedule. Oregon State, California, Washington State, Arizona, Colorado and UCLA should play host to the rivalry games and all other games are split three home, three away.

On Championship Saturday, any team that played three home games and its opponent four gets the home game. If both played an equal number of home games, then use Pac-12 tiebreakers to determine the home team.

SEVEN GAMES

This format, six regular season games plus a Championship Saturday crossover, assumes the Pac-12 waits until Nov. 7 to begin the season.

Several ways to attack a six-game regular season. Five divisional games and one crossover. Four divisional games plus two North-South crossovers. Three and three. Three pods (Northwest, California, Mountain-Arizona) for three games, plus three wild cards.

The one that makes most sense is a divisional round-robin plus one crossover. That is the fairest way to determine a division champion. But that sixth game, it’s tricky. Conspiracy theorists will scream if USC is given a North weakling, or Oregon gets the South’s worst.

A compromise? Let’s go back to a thought on the eight-game model and use last year’s standings. The North-South crossover games pit the No. 1 teams from 2019, 2 vs. 2 and so on. Which means Oregon vs. Utah, California-USC, Washington-Arizona State, Oregon State-UCLA, Washington State-Colorado, Stanford-Arizona.

The seventh game, on Championship Saturday Dec. 19, follows the format laid out in the eight-game schedule. No. 1 vs. 1 down to 6 vs. 6.

--Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel

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