Hotline podcast: The shape of the 2020 season…
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Hotline podcast: The shape of the 2020 season with CBS Sports columnist Dennis Dodd
We touched on the playoff, the Pac-12 and other key issues ahead of an unusual fall
By Jon Wilner | jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 5, 2020 at 6:48 a.m. | UPDATED: July 22, 2020 at 2:27 p.m.
Each week, our list of unanswered questions about the 2020 college football season seems to expand.
Commissioners and athletic directors across the Power Five have perfected the art of not making decisions until they have to (smart) and not answering questions that have bad answers (also smart).
The experts who shaped the Pac-12's return-to-campus strategy: The coronavirus advisory committee
Pac-12 football in the fall? Play ball, says a leading epidemiologist (but there's a caveat)
Our list includes, but is not limited to:
— What happens if, heaven forbid, a player, coach or staff member dies of Covid-19?
— How will schools allocate the limited number of tickets to each game, assuming reduced capacity?
— If a team cannot play one week because of an outbreak, does that count as a loss?
— How will the playoff selection committee pick the semifinalists if certain contenders have their season disrupted?
That last matter was part of a new Hotline podcast, which focused on the upcoming season with CBS Sports columnist Dennis Dodd.
"There's hope," Dodd said at the outset of the conversation.
Indeed, there is.
A month ago, the outlook was bleak. But a series of fortunate events have helped clear a manageable path to an on-time start.
We chewed on the reasons for that late-spring momentum and many of the fascinating details shaping a season like no other — from roster sizes and testing protocols to voluntary workouts and the College Football Playoff.
"What's a legitimate playoff," Dodd asked, "and at what point does ESPN not owe the FBS $475 million?"
What if key non-conference games are canceled?
What if Ohio State or Alabama finishes unbeaten but only plays eight or nine games?
One thing we know: If the Pac-12's playoff push is derailed by coronavirus disruption, the legitimacy of the event won't be in question.
If the SEC can't participate, the CFP has trouble. Same with Ohio State and Clemson.
But the Pac-12's lack of stature on the national stage in recent years makes it an easy castoff for fans, media and even the committee itself.
There will be no uproar over an asterisk-marred playoff that doesn't include the Pac-12.
And we talked about that, too.
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Pac-12 Hotline Podcast
Jon Wilner | College sports reporter
Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.
jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com
Follow Jon Wilner	@wilnerhotline
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