The past couple days haven’t been great at all for college football. After it briefly appeared that the entire fall football season for the Power 5 conferences would be postponed, the Pac-12 and Big Ten ended up being the only P5 leagues to call off the season.
With the Big 12, ACC and SEC going forward with fall football, Nebraska — a dissenting vote in the Big Ten’s decision to cancel football in 2020 — came out swinging at the league’s decision. Head football coach Scott Frost and athletic director Bill Moos raised the possibility of Nebraska going rogue and trying to compete elsewhere — something that cannot happen if the school wanted to keep its lucrative Big Ten membership.
But according to ESPN’s Desmond Howard, the damage has already been done. He said in a Wednesday morning appearance on Get Up that the Big Ten should kick Nebraska out of the conference.
He said:
“You think that they’re the only team that really wants to play? Of course not. All the teams and all the coaches want to play, but they’re not whining and crying and then talking about an exit — talking about leaving the conference. I think that at this point, Greeny, I would demand an apology from the chancellor and the president and Scott Frost. And not one behind closed doors — a public apology. Or, if I’m Kevin Warren right now, I’m working on a way to get their ass out of the Big Ten.”
Obviously, it wasn’t a great look for Nebraska to openly go against the conference’s decision. Iowa, which also dissented in the vote, said that it wouldn’t look to play elsewhere. And, again, Nebraska wouldn’t be able to go rogue and remain a member of the Big Ten — something Warren had already said. There are 50 million reasons to stay put.
Yet, on the flip side, the Big Ten can’t just kick Nebraska out of the conference for being publicly upset about a decision to postpone football unless the Big Ten wants to face an ugly legal battle. Warren in an interview with Big Ten Network dismissed Nebraska’s remarks as the school being passionate. That was the diplomatic route and one the Big Ten will likely stick with.
Howard’s take makes for fun TV banter, but in reality, there’s no way it happens.
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