The latest breaking news on the college football front revolves around going to a conference only schedule this fall. The Big Ten Conference has already made their announcement. With 14 teams, they could fill out their non-conference schedule with their remaining teams.
The Big Ten will play only conference games this football season, multiple people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the USA TODAY Network Thursday.
The people requested anonymity because the move had not yet been announced by the league office. That is expected to come along with further details later Thursday. The Athletic was the first to report the Big Ten’s decision, which comes as coronavirus cases are surging in Texas and the Southeast.
Following that announcement, Brett McMurphy of Stadium reported that the ACC would follow. They would also help out Notre Dame with as many games as needed.
ACC football also expected to play conference-only games, sources told @Stadium. Last month, ACC commish John Swofford told @Stadium if Power 5 schools played conference-only schedules that ACC would assist Notre Dame with as many games as it needed
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 9, 2020
The domino effect of news continued with the PAC12 Conference getting into the act according to Bryan Fischer of College Football Talk.
Source says Pac-12 is likely to follow the Big Ten’s lead in the coming days on a conference-only slate this fall.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) July 9, 2020
The remaining two power five conference are likely to follow as they won’t have a choice with the conferences announcing a conference only schedule. For Texas it would eliminate the LSU matchup in Baton Rouge should the SEC follow suit.
Provided the Big 12 makes the same announcement in the coming days, it begs the question of how they might fill out their remaining schedule or would they stick to the already planned schedule.
Related: What a conference only spring schedule might look like
If the Big 12 wanted to play a full slate of 12 games, then some of the matchups would take place twice. Could we see two Red River Rivalry games? One could be in Austin and one in Norman. Or would they go with other matchups? Tough to make a call at this point but it is worth watching as it all unfolds in the coming days.