Pac-12 as usual has been sitting around with their thumbs up their butts. As soon as they announced their partnership with Quidel for rapid testing on the 3rd they should have been:
- Doing whatever they could to speed up the timeframe for getting these testing labs set up on each campus
- Conferring with state and local officials in all Pac-12 states - but particularly California and Oregon - to lay the groundwork for return to play ASAP
- Talking with their counterparts in the Big Ten to see where they were headed in terms of returning to play and what kind of schedule they were considering
Instead it appears they did none of those things. They won't have testing available on all campuses until the end of the month, which - with a 6-week ramp up time mandated by the conference - means the middle of November at best to start play assuming they get the go-ahead from the states and local officials. And as we've seen over the last couple of days, it sure doesn't seem like they've been working with local officials in California and Oregon to lay the groundwork for a return to practice and play. Apparently the rocket scientists in California think "limited cohort"
practicing of no more than 12 players per group is a feasible and practical way for football teams to practice.
I'm all for ensuring reasonable safety protocols for players, and I had zero issue with the conference postponing play this fall. But as soon as antigen rapid testing (15 turnaround time with nearly the same level of accuracy as PCR tests) became feasible, football with reasonable safety in this pandemic became possible. But the conference didn't (and doesn't) appear to be acting with any kind of urgency. Instead they will further cement themselves as the odd-men out in the Power-5 as they will be on the outside looking in for the CFP this season and will be playing games that very few people will care about in December and January.
Fuck Larry Scott. Fire that clown.