With less than five weeks until Texas’ football season is scheduled to kick off against South Florida on Sept. 5, the Big 12 conference answered one of the upcoming season’s biggest questions Monday night.
The Big 12 has approved a plan for each football team to play nine conference games and one home non-conference game according to a statement released Monday night. After the SEC announced July 30 that it would be moving to a conference-only schedule, Texas’ highly anticipated Week 2 matchup against reigning national champion LSU was canceled. That leaves Texas to play either South Florida or UTEP at home before beginning the conference slate.
“We believe this change provides the best opportunity going forward,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in the statement. “However, we will undoubtedly need to be flexible as we progress through the season in order to combat the challenges that lie ahead.”
While other Power Five conferences are opting for a 10-game conference-only schedule, the Big 12’s is allowing one non-conference game to ensure each Big 12 school reaches the 10-game benchmark. The Big 12 is the only conference to allow non-conference play.
The news came three days after the Big 12 conference announced the cancellation of its 2020 Football Media Days on July 30, continuing the series of changes that impacted the event in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic..
On May 6, the conference announced that the event, originally scheduled for July 20-21 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, would be held in a virtual format. Then on July 15, the conference announced the event would be rescheduled for Aug. 3.
“There continues to be a lot more questions than answers about what the football season will look like,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement. “A media day is intended to talk football and the prospects for the season. Part of that discussion is who you will be playing and when. With the ongoing consideration of scheduling models by our Board of Directors, this is the best course of action at this time.”
The schedule decision is just one of the issues Texas is facing right now, as the athletics department is working to implement new safety guidelines at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this fall, a spokesperson announced Monday.
“The safety of our student-athletes, fans, visitors and staff is our top priority,” said Drew Martin, Texas’ executive senior associate athletic director for external affairs, in a video statement.
Austin-Travis County is still in Stage 4 — out of five — of the risk-based guidelines, according to Austin Public Health. While the statewide 50% stadium capacity limit is still in place, University officials are entertaining the possibility of holding games at a 25% capacity.
DKR seats over 95,000 fans. With a quarter of the stadium being full, that would put 23,899 people in the stands for the six home games. Not to mention, the Red River Showdown is still set to happen in Dallas come October.
With the schedule up in the air, the University not knowing the logistics of the season and several players planning to sit out the season for social justice reasons, Longhorn senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger tweeted a very simple message about the team's mentality.
“We’ll be ready to go, just let us know.”
