USC won't play California for the first time since 1925; UCLA-Cal interrupted for the first time since series began in 1933. Unless one of those come up in week 7, which seems highly unlikely at this point.
No spectators means many of us will have various streaks broken such as consecutive home games attended and Big Games attended. Barely seems like college football without a stadium full of people (Stanfurd will hardly notice). The proverbial better than nothing, I suppose.
The article I'm dying to see is who will be playing for us this year? Who left? Who is refusing to play? What is the status of the walk out? Who will suit up?
Generally, yes. Local and state guidelines' limits are often based on the number of people and with the number of players and personnel (medical, coaching, officiating, media), there's little room for anyone else.
This is pretty much a worst of all worlds schedule for Cal.
In January of last year it looked like the stars were aligning for Cal to have a terrific season this year, now it seems as if the stars are aligning against us.
How so? Regardless of Covid we were always going to play the entire pac 12 north. We get to skip a very good USC team, I would have preferred to play ucla but that game always seems to be a tricky one for us. We still get Oregon, UW and Stanford at home. Getting UW early is good since they are breaking in a new QB.
We are not scheduled to play either of our rivals in UCLA or USC, and we have to play to play the team I think will be the best of the desert and mountain schools in ASU. Basically, we don't get to keep tradition and we don't get an easy game, hence the worst of all worlds.
I see, you were also factoring in tradition, I was just looking at it from a competitive point of view.
ASU will be tough but they are still young and I would prefer to play ASU over Utah and USC. I would have preferred to just swap out ucla for ASU. At least we would have been able to keep some of our tradition and our schedule would be slightly less difficult.
Cynically, I bet they avoided tough match ups to maximize the number of schools that can go to bowls and the playoffs. We're at a disadvantage with seven-games: our schools have to play perfect or lose no more than one game to get to the postseason. We also don't have any non-conference games to "make a statement" for playoff consideration so have to show off quality with an undefeated record
I don't think it's the number of wins that matter for bowl eligibility, just that the percentage has to be at least 50%, so we only need 4 wins in a 7-game season
The Palouse is always tough but defense travels and we have a good run game so if the conditions are bad we can lean on that. Ball control and running in the snow is a winning formula.
I didn't see it mentioned above but calbears.com says: "Under current guidelines from both the state of California and the conference, no fans will be permitted to events on Pac-12 campuses out of health and safety concerns, although the policy will be revisited by the Pac-12 in January for future events should conditions allow."
Sounds like the Pac-12 network is doomed. When you say none of the games will be broadcast nationally are you indicating that they will be regional broadcasts (so that we will be able to watch each Cal game?)
I wish we could swap out ASU for UCLA but other then that the schedule is fine.
USC won't play California for the first time since 1925; UCLA-Cal interrupted for the first time since series began in 1933. Unless one of those come up in week 7, which seems highly unlikely at this point.
Big Game... on a... Friday.
And some of Pac-12 games start after-after-dark at 9 and 10am.
But on a Holiday weekend.
No spectators means many of us will have various streaks broken such as consecutive home games attended and Big Games attended. Barely seems like college football without a stadium full of people (Stanfurd will hardly notice). The proverbial better than nothing, I suppose.
I don't think it counts as a broken streak if spectators aren't allowed.
The article I'm dying to see is who will be playing for us this year? Who left? Who is refusing to play? What is the status of the walk out? Who will suit up?
Is the band considered to be spectators for the purpose of PAC-12 rules?
Generally, yes. Local and state guidelines' limits are often based on the number of people and with the number of players and personnel (medical, coaching, officiating, media), there's little room for anyone else.
The Pac-12 already announced there would be no band and cheer at games this year.
This is pretty much a worst of all worlds schedule for Cal.
In January of last year it looked like the stars were aligning for Cal to have a terrific season this year, now it seems as if the stars are aligning against us.
How so? Regardless of Covid we were always going to play the entire pac 12 north. We get to skip a very good USC team, I would have preferred to play ucla but that game always seems to be a tricky one for us. We still get Oregon, UW and Stanford at home. Getting UW early is good since they are breaking in a new QB.
We are not scheduled to play either of our rivals in UCLA or USC, and we have to play to play the team I think will be the best of the desert and mountain schools in ASU. Basically, we don't get to keep tradition and we don't get an easy game, hence the worst of all worlds.
I see, you were also factoring in tradition, I was just looking at it from a competitive point of view.
ASU will be tough but they are still young and I would prefer to play ASU over Utah and USC. I would have preferred to just swap out ucla for ASU. At least we would have been able to keep some of our tradition and our schedule would be slightly less difficult.
Really curious how interdivision games were picked. There doesn't seem to be any preference for games we'd actually care to see.
I'd go with something like:
Cal vs. UCLA
Stanfurd vs. USC
Oregon vs. Arizona
OSU vs. ASU
Washington vs. Utah
WSU vs. Colorado
as those feature rivalries or frequently competitive games in recent years.
Cynically, I bet they avoided tough match ups to maximize the number of schools that can go to bowls and the playoffs. We're at a disadvantage with seven-games: our schools have to play perfect or lose no more than one game to get to the postseason. We also don't have any non-conference games to "make a statement" for playoff consideration so have to show off quality with an undefeated record
I don't think it's the number of wins that matter for bowl eligibility, just that the percentage has to be at least 50%, so we only need 4 wins in a 7-game season
You're right: six is no longer the magic number beginning this year
Not looking forward to that mid-December road trip to the Palouse.
The Palouse is always tough but defense travels and we have a good run game so if the conditions are bad we can lean on that. Ball control and running in the snow is a winning formula.
That's the one that jumped out at me. Yuck.
I didn't see it mentioned above but calbears.com says: "Under current guidelines from both the state of California and the conference, no fans will be permitted to events on Pac-12 campuses out of health and safety concerns, although the policy will be revisited by the Pac-12 in January for future events should conditions allow."
Thanks for pointing that out--I added it to the article.
The band music can be piped in. Just like crowd noise. Consider men's rugby which plays recorded Cal band music.
We have the toughest schedule in the Pac12
Not as tough as all the teams that have to play us.
No
UCLA does by far
They play usc , Oregon and asu
Wazzu probably has it tougher. The Pac-12 North will probably be tougher than the South and their cross-division game will be against USC.
Sounds like the Pac-12 network is doomed. When you say none of the games will be broadcast nationally are you indicating that they will be regional broadcasts (so that we will be able to watch each Cal game?)
Well, I guess this means Larry Scott is about to lay off more people and give himself another $2.2m bonus.
That was a typo--ALL of the games will reportedly be broadcast nationally.
That's good - more exposure.
That’s good.
Also, no throwback unis so one less guaranteed loss!!!