Whittingham: We Are All In On Conference-Only Schedule

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – University of Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham is in favor of playing every Pac-12 school if it comes down to it.

Whittingham along with Colorado head coach Karl Dorrell and Washington head coach Jimmy Lake spoke to the media on a Zoom conference call on Tuesday talking about the possible scenarios that the conference has discussed about the upcoming college football season.

“Right now, all options are on the table as things that we have talked about as a conference,” Whittingham said. “I think their is a lot of questions that have to be answered first. The ideal situation is that we start on time and play the normal schedule and have fans in the stands. I think the odds are probably against that.”

Whittingham mentioned that they are targeting June 1 to open up the facility and allow small groups of players to participate in workouts.

Whitt: Some talks of June 1 of getting individuals in the facility for workouts.#Utes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) May 12, 2020

The Pac-12 has suspended all team activities until May 31.

All-In On Conference-Only Schedule

Whittingham was asked about playing an 11-game schedule against the entire Pac-12 and not playing their three non-conference games.

“If it comes to playing a conference schedule, we are all in,” Whittingham stated. “If that’s what it takes to get the season in and get things done in the best fashion possible then that’s what we go with. I think we are several weeks out from having any real concrete direction on what is going to happen and how things are going to set up.”

USC head coach Clay Helton mentioned on Monday that the conference was looking at an 11-game schedule where every Pac-12 team would play each other during the season.

Whittingham doesn’t recall the Pac-12 bringing up an 11-game model but said that he is in favor of playing every team in the conference if that is the direction the Pac-12 goes in.

“I haven’t heard of the 11-game schedule but have heard of a 10-game and 9-game model,” Whittingham said. “I guess there is nothing wrong with an 11-game model if you have the time frame.”

Not Playing Games During Finals Week

One of the scenarios that has been discussed is pushing back the start of the season. Whittingham hopes that if that happens that the players don’t have to prepare for a game during finals week.

“One of my big issues is trying to avoid playing games during finals,” mentioned Whittingham. “I think that is tough on the student-athletes and I know we have bowl prep during finals but that’s a whole different ball game than getting ready for an actual game that week. I think we are going to try to get in as many games as we can and we will see what happens.”

All three coaches on the call agreed that they need at least 6 weeks to prepare their players for the season when they get the green light from the NCAA and the Pac-12. That is a minimum. They are hoping to have 8 weeks to get ready for the 2020 season.

Whittingham said that they would need a minimum of 6 weeks to get ready for the season.#Utes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) May 12, 2020

But, it is hard for Whittingham and the other coaches to predict what will happen at this time because of many unknowns and unanswered questions that are still around.

“There is so much unknown and so much fluidness to the situation that it’s really pointless to try to pinpoint any one direction that we are going to go in. We are just going to have to wait and see and go from there,” Whittingham said.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.