Oregon is still preparing for Washington even though Washington has put a pause on all team activities. Mario Cristobal addressed the Ducks at the start of practice and their sights remain set on the Huskies (3-1), who are set to come to Autzen Stadium on Saturday (1 p.m., FOX) until and unless told otherwise.
The Pandemic is trying to take away football which many people are looking forward to since there’s nothing to do. Cristobal would go on to say “ 100% focus on playing Washington, our opponent this weekend,” Cristobal said. “That’s the information that was given to our football team. They understand; there’s stuff out there in social media, but we are preparing 100% to play the University of Washington. … The only status of the game that I am aware of is that this game is scheduled for Saturday. What we’re doing, we’re going forward. I understand there’s a pause over there; I get it and I’m very well informed on the protocols that go with that kind of stuff. But all indications and all information is that we’re going forward with this football game.”
Washington athletic director Jen Cohen said the “goal is to play this football game, and that starts with our ability to practice tomorrow.” This is the best case scenario considering Covid numbers are rising across the US. Oregon on the other hand will be getting ready for the game that decides the Pac-12 North American Championship.
Oregon safety Verone McKinley III said “ nothing changed We had a good practice today; we talked about it and then we moved on. We had the same practice we’d have on every Wednesday. We’re preparing the same way. We’ll have meetings tonight and go through the film and make sure we’ll staying prepared for Saturday. We’re planning to play.”
If Washington is unable to play things get weird. The game will be declared a no contest, UW wins by default and becomes the champion of the Pac-12 north. If the average number of conference games falls below 4.5, which would require only three league games to be played this weekend, then USC (4-0) and Colorado (4-0, 3-0 Pac-12) could potentially meet in the conference title game as the two teams with the highest conference win percentage. The Pac-12 finds themselves in a funky predicament because of Covid.
Many believe that the Pac-12 started to late just like the Big 10, Additionally, Oregon could be in search of an opponent this weekend and as of Wednesday afternoon, there haven’t been many games postponed or canceled featuring teams that can play non-conference games on short notice.
Hopefully the Pac-12 can figure things out and Oregon and Washington get to play. Fans want Washington to reschedule but it’s too late into the year. You have a team that is preparing for a game and they don’t even have an opponent. Washington has done PCR testing and are waiting for the results but it’s not looking good for them.
