LINCOLN — Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, in announcing a new daily COVID-19 testing partnership with a manufacturer of rapid-test diagnostic machines, said he hoped his league the Big Ten could “align” their fall football schedules so both could have the same postseason opportunity in the Rose Bowl.

The Pac-12, which on Aug. 11 announced its decision to postpone fall sports just hours after the Big Ten made its decision, will soon begin a daily rapid testing protocol with its student-athletes through Quidel’s Sofia 2 machine, which produces results for rapid COVID-19 antigen tests. The antigen tests can produce on-site results within minutes, unlike PCR tests that no matter how quickly the results can be returned still need a lab to produce those results.

Scott called the development a “game changer,” especially as it relates to contact tracing. If Pac-12 student-athletes are tested daily, receiving results within the hour, positive cases can be isolated, while their high-risk contacts can be traced within the day. Scott said in a virtual press conference that, when the Pac-12 made its decision in mid-August, he didn’t anticipate the rapid tests being available.

There are now — and the Pac-12 made a special deal with Quidel, which has been providing tests to individual teams, as well.

“This is a major step toward the safe resumption of Pac-12 sport competitions,” Scott said in a press release. “The availability of a reliable test that can be administered daily, with almost immediate results, addresses one of the key concerns that was expressed by our medical advisory committee, as well as by student-athletes, coaches and others.”