Big 12 football teams to play 10-game season

By Benton Smith     Aug 3, 2020

Mike Gunnoe
Kansas linebacker Dru Prox chases down Coastal Carolina's CJ Marable Saturday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Sept. 7, 2019.

Following the lead of college football’s other Power Five conferences, the Big 12 will implement a trimmed down schedule for the upcoming season.

The Big 12’s Board of Directors approved a plan Monday evening for the league’s teams to play a 10-game season, the conference announced.

Out is the original 12-game slate, replaced by a calendar that allows each program in the conference to play its normal nine-game Big 12 schedule, with just one nonconference game, instead of three. The nonconference games for Big 12 teams all will be home dates.

The conference has yet to solidify plans on the season’s start date, but the conference announced it anticipates the first games being played in mid- or late-September.

“I would like to salute the work of our university presidents and chancellors, athletics directors, coaches, medical advisors and administrators who have worked tirelessly and collaboratively during these extraordinary times,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby stated in a release.  “We believe this change provides the best opportunity going forward.  However, we will undoubtedly need to be flexible as we progress through the season in order to combat the challenges that lie ahead.”

For KU, headed into its second season with head coach Les Miles, the plan could mean getting rid of matchups with Boston College and Coastal Carolina, as well as altering the season opener.

The ACC already had brought into doubt the chances of KU facing Boston College in Lawrence on Sept. 19, once the ACC said its teams wouldn’t play nonconference games out of state.

Additionally, with the Big 12 wanting to keep its nonconference games at Big 12 venues, KU won’t be playing at Coastal Carolina on Sept. 26.

KU currently is slated to face Southern Illinois at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in its season opener, on Aug. 29, but the Big 12 indicated its season won’t start that early.

The Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC already had moved to only play conference games in 2020, while the ACC came up with its plus-one conference schedule before the Big 12 landed on its 10-game plan.

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