LOGAN — Late Friday afternoon, the Pac-12 announced that several sports, most notably football, would schedule conference-only games this season, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The reverberations of the announcement were felt nationwide, the Mountain West Conference included.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West were slated to face off 12 times in 2020, excluding potential bowl matchups, with Utah State among the teams leading the way. USU was one of four schools, along with Hawaii, UNLV and Colorado State, that was supposed to play a pair of games against Pac-12 opponents.
The Aggies were slated to open the season at home against Washington State on Sept. 3 — in what would have been only the fourth meeting all time between the teams — and then travel to Seattle to face off against Washington on Sept. 19.
Those games are out of the window now, which begs the question, what is next for Utah State?
As reported on Thursday by Ron Counts of the Idaho Statesman, the MWC has yet to make a decision about the fall season, whether that be to move forward as is — all 12 teams have at least two additional games scheduled against out-of-conference opponents — or follow the lead of the Big Ten and Pac-12 and move to a conference-only schedule.
Any decision, Counts said, is likely to come later this month.
Following the Pac-12’s announcement on Friday, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson responded with a statement saying the conference will continue to monitor the situation surrounding fall sports, including conference-only competition.
“As has been the case since the onset of the pandemic, we are fully engaged with our membership and advisors on a nearly daily basis exploring the myriad of potential scenarios around returning to competition,” the statement read. “We are aware of this possibility and will continue to evaluate the appropriate decisions and the proper timing going forward. The safety, healthy and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, staff members and campuses remain our top priority.”
Not included among the scenarios discussed, thus far at least, is the addition of BYU to the Mountain West in a conference-only setting, Counts reported. The Aggies are currently slated to face their rivals on Oct. 2 in Provo, while San Diego State and Boise State are also scheduled to play the Cougars.
Based on the decisions made by the Big Ten and Pac-12, a conference-only schedule would appear to be the most likely move for the MWC going forward. Currently, the Aggies are scheduled to play against all but three conference opponents — Hawaii, San Jose State and UNLV.
Another possibility includes keeping FCS competition on schedules, barring the Big Sky Conference postponing its season until spring, à la the Ivy League. MW teams could potentially even add more FCS opponents as replacements for lost Pac-12 competition.
Bryan Fischer, a columnist for Athlon Sports, reported on Friday that the NCAA Football Oversight Committee is recommending a waiver to allow teams to count two wins over FCS teams for bowl eligibility purposes (during a normal season only one win over a FCS team counts).
That idea has been spearheaded by both FCS and Group of Five teams, Fischer said, and makes sense for Utah State given the fact that the Aggies are scheduled to host Southern Utah on Sept. 12.
Whatever the Mountain West decides, Utah State players have been clear since the outset of the pandemic: They want to play. Against whom exactly will just be up in the air for a while.