USC football is back! Pac-12 reportedly votes to return for a fall season

USC football is coming back in 2020 after the Pac-12 voted in favor of restarting the season.

The USC football season is back on.

On Thursday evening, the Pac-12 voted to return to play, according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News.

Though we have Wilner’s report, details on when the games will start and how many will be played should be forthcoming. The conference will have a media webinar at 5 p.m. to discuss those plans.

The important bit is done. USC will play this fall.

UPDATE: The Pac-12 will begin play on the weekend of Nov. 6 with each team playing seven games. The conference title game will be held on Friday, Dec. 18, per Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.

USC football will return for a fall season on Nov. 7/Oct. 31.

The Pac-12 decided to cancel the fall football season on Aug. 11 shortly after the Big Ten made the same move. At the time, the leagues were concerned about the underlying health effects of the coronavirus. An adequate level of testing to assuage those fears was not considered attainable.

Then, on Sept. 3, the Pac-12 announced a partnership with Quidel Corp which would supply antigen testing machines to each campus with the ability to test daily and to get results back within an hour.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten was experiencing internal strife as other leagues pushed forward with their seasons. Players and coaches within the conference publically lobbied for the return of football. Citing improvement in their own testing capacities, the Big Ten announced a restart of their fall football season on Sept. 15. The campaign is now scheduled to begin on Oct. 17.

Given the Big Ten’s plans, the Pac-12 faced pressure to also get back on the field. On Sept. 14, USC players forced the issue by writing an open letter to California governor Gavin Newson asking for restrictions on practice to be lifted. Over the next day, state and local officials in California and Oregon paved the way for Pac-12 programs in those states to gather for practices.