USU football back in Fall 2020
Aggie football is officially back.
The Mountain West Conference announced that football will be played after all, with school presidents voting Thursday to go forward with the fall season.
WE'RE BACK. pic.twitter.com/kZTEGDJXPz
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) September 25, 2020
It will consist of an eight-game, conference only schedule which will start on Oct. 24. There will be eight weeks of regular season play — with a month-long preseason for conditioning prior to the start — leading up to the Mountain West championship game on Dec. 19.
The announcement does not come as a surprise as reports surfaced last week that the conference was “aggressively pursuing” having a football season.
Mountain West “aggressively exploring” options to play 8-game fall season, culminating w/Dec. 19 MW title game, sources told @Stadium. This would allow league to be eligible for NY6 bowls. Not all schools might play w/Hawaii, Fresno & Air Force biggest unknowns for full season
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 17, 2020
On Aug. 10, the conference presidents unanimously voted to cancel the fall sports season sighting player health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But when college football began in other places around the country in September, conferences who had canceled began to reconsider. On Sept. 15, the Big Ten conference announced that it would be returning to the grid-iron on Oct. 24. The Pac-12 conference also announced today that it would be coming back, with a 7-game schedule starting in November.
The schedule has yet to be released for who and when teams will play. However, shortly after the Mountain West made its announcement, Utah State Athletics Director John Hartwell tweeted that the department is working on a limited seating arrangement for Maverick Stadium.
The MW Conf is working diligently to get us a schedule ASAP and @USUAthletics is working on a limited capacity seating plan for @USUFootball. We will get you details as soon as we can. Thanks for your continued support. #AggiesAllTheWay #PlayBall
— John Hartwell (@john_hartwell) September 25, 2020
It was reported earlier this week by Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports that the Mountain West would approve a COVID-19 testing protocol before moving forward with the season. It involves testing coaches and athletes for the virus three times per week, likely using rapid antigen testing according to reports.
The Mountain West’s new testing protocols will be put to the test, with confirmed cases of COVID-19 spiking across the western United States.
On Thursday the state of Utah had a record-breaking 1,198 new confirmed cases. Several high schools across the state have temporally moved online and the BYU football game on Sept. 26 will be played without fans in attendance.
Utah State University announced Thursday morning that there are 298 “active” cases of the virus among students.
— sports@usustatesman.com