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Big 12 Conference to move forward with football this season, releases schedule

Big 12 Conference to move forward with football this season, releases schedule
Posted at 11:28 AM, Aug 12, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-12 12:28:43-04

The Big 12 Conference is playing college football this year.

On Wednesday, the conference announced its schedule for the upcoming season.

For the Big 12, one noticeable difference to this year's schedule is the Bedlam matchup between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners. The game will take place on the third weekend of November. It usually happens on the last Saturday of November.

The Red River Showdown between the Texas Longhorns and the Sooners will still happen Dec. 10 at the Cotton Bowl, but the Texas State Fair, which correlates with the game, was canceled due to COVID-19.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the conference will have "enhanced COVID-19 testing," which will include three tests per week.

"The virus continues to evolve and medical professionals are learning more with each passing week,” said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a statement. “Opinions vary regarding the best path forward, as we’ve seen throughout higher education and our society overall, but we are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital quality sanitation and mitigation practices that optimize the health and safety of our student-athletes. We believe all of this combines to create an ideal learning and training situation during this time of COVID-19."

Conference play will start Sept. 26 and the Big 12 Championship game is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12.

"All non-conference games must be completed before September 26 and the match-ups will be announced by each individual conference member," the conference said in the press release.

Capacity for the stadiums will be determined by each member institution in accordance with local and/or state health ordinances, and working with government officials, the conference said.

The coronavirus has changed the landscape of sports, with the Big Ten and Pac-12 announcing on Tuesday they were postponing their fall sports.