After the Big Ten took the lead Thursday with the announcement that it would be playing a conference-only football schedule in the fall -- or striving to, at least -- it was expected that the other major conferences would follow suit.
And indeed on Friday, the Pac-12 made announced it too would be adopting the conference-only model for football, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball.
The Pac-12 also announced that is delaying the start of mandatory athletic activities "until a series of health and safety indicators, which have recently trended in a negative direction, provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities."
The NCAA had previously approved that coaches could start working with players in a limited-hours capacity starting July 13.
USC initiated Phase 2 of returning student-athletes to campus this week, welcoming non-local players back with the availability of on-campus housing after initially bringing back local players in Phase 1 of the return.
As of Friday, USC has announced four positive tests among the 201 tests administered to athletes across several sports. Updated results have not yet been provided this week.
As for the plan to play only conference games, USC's non-conference schedule featured a season-opening showdown in Texas against Alabama on Sept. 5, a home game against New Mexico on Sept. 12 and the annual rivalry showdown with Notre Dame in the Coliseum on Nov. 28.
"Confronted with an unprecedented global pandemic, in going to a conference-only schedule for fall sports in 2020, the Pac-12 Conference is acting responsibly on behalf of the health and safety of all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, while trying to do everything possible so we can compete this year," USC athletic director Mike Bohn said in a statement. "Regarding our football schedule, I have communicated today's Pac-12 decision to the athletic directors at Alabama, New Mexico and Notre Dame, and there is no additional information to share at this time.
"We recognize how important both our historic series with Notre Dame and highly-anticipated contest with Alabama are to our student-athletes, fans and alumni. We will relay additional information regarding our fall sports schedules as we learn more in the weeks ahead."
The USC-Notre Dame rivalry has been played every year since 1926 with exception of three years during World War II from 1943-45.
As for the season opener, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne commented his reaction to the news on Twitter.
USC wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was also quick to share his disappointment in the news.
USC's first remaining game on the original schedule is at Stanford on Sept. 19, but it's unclear if there will be further adjustments.
The Pac-12 news release stated only that the start of the season would be delayed while noting "the CEO Group made clear that it hopes to play football and all other fall sports provided that it can meet the health and safety needs of its student-athletes and obtain appropriate permissions from state and local health authorities."
Also per the news release, the Pac-12 says it has developed a series of potential fall sport scheduling models including conference-only schedules and delayed season starts. Details on conference-only schedules will be announced no later than July 31.
"The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. "Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities."
The Pac-12 also emphasized that any student-athletes who opt out of playing this season due to concerns over their health amid the pandemic will not lose their scholarships.
