Oregon Football: COVID-19 Lands Ducks In Pac-12 Championship vs USC Trojans
The Washington Huskies will not have enough scholarship players available, pitting Oregon vs USC in the 2020 Pac-12 Championship.
On Sunday it was announced that Colorado would meet Oregon on Saturday in LA Coliseum, a day after USC and Washington were set to meet. Plans on Monday changed as the Washington Huskies, who missed the game with Oregon last week are still having issues with COVID-19. They announced they were not able to play this week. The second-place team in the Pac-12 North, by way of ‘regular season’ record was Oregon. The Ducks will now face an undefeated USC team on Friday night.
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Washington Huskies Head Coach Jimmy Lake spoke with reporters via Zoom on Monday saying that an entire position group, including walk-ons, will not be available this week due to COVID-19. That position group is the offensive line, a critical group needed to play a college football game. I expect this may also be the group that affected the game with the Ducks last week that was also cancelled.
Oregon Football has now had two weeks off without a game and will face a tough task in an undefeated USC Trojans team from the Pac-12 South on Friday night.
On Sunday, the Pac-12 Conference cancelled the final game of the season between California and Arizona. Now, Washingon and Colorado will also see their respective 2020 seasons come to an end without a final game. For Cal, finishing 1-3 was probably not the plan for Justin Wilcox, but getting the win over Oregon Football a few weeks back had to feel pretty good.
Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake added in his press conference that he agreed that the winner of the Pac-12 Championship deserved to represent the conference in a higher tiered bowl game, even if it was Oregon Football who came away with the win. A classy statement from a Head Coach whose team has missed two opportunities to play and compete in just the last two weeks.
The Huskies are expected to be eligible to play in a bowl game. The goal now is to just get healthy enough to be able to play in the coming weeks.
For Oregon Football, a date with the USC Trojans awaits. Kickoff of the Pac-12 Football Championship is Friday at 5 pm Pacific TIme on FOX.