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Pac-12 Football return in November great for 2021 NFL Draft hopefuls

By Billy Riccette

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 06: A general interior view of Levi's Stadium during the Pac-12 Championship football game between the Oregon Ducks and the Utah Utes at Levi's Stadium on December 6, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. The Oregon Ducks won 37-15. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 06: A general interior view of Levi's Stadium during the Pac-12 Championship football game between the Oregon Ducks and the Utah Utes at Levi's Stadium on December 6, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. The Oregon Ducks won 37-15. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
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Pac-12 Football is returning, much to the relief of 2021 NFL Draft hopefuls

The Power Five is fully back. At least come November it will be. Pac-12 Football has finally joined the party, as the conference made that a reality Thursday, as ESPN is reporting the conference voted Thursday to play a seven-game conference schedule beginning November 6, with the Pac-12 Championship Game likely set for December 18. This is great news for 2021 NFL Draft prospects looking to get another year’s worth of tape on their resume.

All of the Power Five conferences will in fact play football in the fall after the Big Ten and Pac-12 initially voted to postpone football until the spring due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the Pac-12 had originally postponed all sports competitions until January 1, not only affecting fall sports but also the start of the winter sports schedule, including basketball.

While the Big Ten was the first Power Five league to postpone fall sports, the Pac-12 was the first to unveil their first revised schedule back on July 31 before changing course and postponing the season.

What will the Pac-12 Football season look like?

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With the Pac-12 playing seven games, the likelihood of the schedule will be each team playing their five division opponents along with two crossover games, one of which will be at the end of the season during Championship Friday, similar to what the Big Ten is doing. That’s according to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel. So that means six games to determine the Pac-12 Championship Game. There will also be no fans at any games.

This is obviously great news for football fans, especially on the west coast, who are now also hoping for fall football in the Mountain West Conference. This means we’ll get to see some of the top teams in the country, even with some of the players who decided to opt out of the season. Three of the AP Preseason Top 25 reside in the Pac-12: No. 9 Oregon, No. 17 USC and No. 22 Utah.

Will key players opt back in after declaring for 2021 NFL Draft?

Of course, some key names decided to opt out of playing this season due to concerns withmthe ongoing health crisis, including a potential top-three pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell. Stanford offensive tackle Walker Little also opted out along with USC defensive tackle Jay Tufele, just to name a few.

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The bottom line is that we’ll have some late-night college football again in a few weeks, and with just six games to earn a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game, it’s going to be a fun sprint to watch.

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