The Pac-12 today followed the lead from the Big 10 Conference and announced that they are postponing all fall sports through the end of 2020.

It is extremely important to distinguish between postponing the season and canceling the season. Both the Pac-12 and Big 10 conferences hope to play their football season in the Spring of 2021 if conditions improve regarding the pandemic. If they had canceled the fall athletic season, no make up date would be scheduled and teams would not play again until late August or early September of next year. Furthermore, with the Pac-12 ruling out all sports through the end of 2020, college basketball season would not begin until January 2021 at the earliest, meaning non-conference games could go away.

What is even more interesting is that the three other Power 5 leagues are still planning to play their fall season on time.

Although the ACC is still committed to playing as of today, the dominoes could still fall if the Big 12 decides to pull the plug on the fall season and postpone until the spring.

The Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl game is completely up in the air at this point. They could replace the Pac-12 team with another Power 5 or Group of 5 conference if the ACC decides to play their football season in the fall. If the ACC follows the Pac-12 and Big 10, the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl could look at a spring date or even skip a year if bowl games go away as a result of the postponements.

As of this afternoon, UTEP is still planning to play their 2020 regular season. Conference USA has not changed their stance since they opted for eight conference games and up to four non-conference contests for their member schools. The Miners have not yet announced if they will play home games at the Sun Bowl in front of fans. Although schools like Texas and Houston announced they will be seating at 25% capacity for football, UTEP President Dr. Heather Wilson announced that the September Spring and Summer 2020 commencement had been changed to virtual. It had been planned for the Sun Bowl on September 12th.

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