For the Oregon Ducks and the rest of the Pac-12, the hope is that the third time really is the charm when it comes to unveiling the schedule for the upcoming football season.
The original 2020 schedule featuring a full slate of non-conference opponents (which included long anticipated matchups vs. North Dakota State, Ohio State, and Hawaii) was scrapped months ago after it was clear that COVID-19 would be in our lives in a significant way throughout the summer and into the fall. Then, on July 31, the Pac-12 released a 10-game conference-only schedule, which turned out to be relevant for only a couple weeks before the Pac-12, along with the Big Ten, decided to pull the plug on a fall football season altogether.
Of course, it wouldn’t be 2020 without a few more twists and turns.
The arrival of September and the traditional start of the college football season brought with it news that the Pac-12 had reached an agreement with Quidel Corporation to “implement daily testing for COVID-19 with student-athletes across all of its campuses for all close-contact sports,” thus paving the way for the start of an abbreviated season for Pac-12 member schools.
Fast forward to Saturday, and another newly-revised Pac-12 football schedule for the fall has been officially released, pitting each Pac-12 school against the teams in their division, plus one crossover game with a team in the opposing division. Each school will then play a seventh game the weekend of the Pac-12 Championship Game on December 18-19, giving the Pac-12 a chance to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Below, WFOD takes a closer look at the 2020 draw for the Ducks.
🚨 ANNOUNCED 🚨 The 2020 #Pac12FB Schedule‼️🏈
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) October 3, 2020
More info ➡️ https://t.co/is8iNnKAn8#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/EztU2bMgZe
The Good
Generally speaking, Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, head coach Mario Cristobal, and the rest of the Oregon fan base couldn’t have asked for a much more favorable draw than the one they received from the Pac-12 on Saturday morning.
You don’t need to squint to see pretty clearly that the Pac-12’s schedule makers baked into the schedule a very navigable path for the perceived two strongest teams in the conference, Oregon and USC, to meet the final week of the regular season in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Depending on your Pac-12 allegiance, this is a wise approach for a conference looking to prop up its two best programs and squeeze every ounce of notoriety they can out of a conference championship game that has generally lacked pizzazz on the national stage since the Pac-12 moved to a two division format in 2011.
As it relates to Oregon specifically, opening the season at home (for whatever home field advantage is worth) against a Stanford team that has been gutted by offseason transfers and opt-outs is an ideal way to give a new starting quarterback and five new starters along the offensive line the opportunity to find themselves a bit before launching into the meat of the season.
Additionally, the Ducks get UCLA as their South division crossover opponent this season; a Friday night contest that will mark the second time that former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly has made a trip back to Eugene to square off against the program he helped cement on the national stage. Though Kelly and the Bruins have woefully underwhelmed the past two seasons, this could be the most fully-formed team that UCLA has fielded since Kelly’s arrival prior to the 2018 season.
The Ducks then end the season with a date at home versus rival Washington, adding fitting spice to what could be a defacto play-in game to see who represents the Pac-12 North in the conference title game.
The Bad
In all honesty, there’s isn’t much to gripe about if you’re a Duck fan looking at this schedule.
After getting a depleted Stanford team at home on November 7 to open the season, the Ducks will have to make the arduous trip to Pullman the next week to face Washington State and first year head coach Nick Rolovich. The Cougs are expected to be in a state of flux as they turn the page from the Mike Leach era, but a trip to the Palouse in mid-November can be a daunting proposition for any program regardless of Wazzu’s perceived quality, especially considering the unpredictability of the weather that time of year.
Oregon’s most difficult stretch of the season comes over the second half of the schedule, as not only do the Ducks end the year with difficult back-to-back games at Cal and vs. Washington, but also kickoff that stretch with a Friday night game at Oregon State, which will be the first game between the Ducks and Beavers in the post-“Civil War” era.
Top Photo: Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal (Eugene Johnson/FishDuck.com)