Now that Urban Meyer isn’t getting a college football team ready to start a season and is a member of the media, he has plenty to say about the state of affairs in college football.
As an analyst with FOX and the Big Ten Network, he has been leaned on heavily to weigh in on several topics through this unprecedented time of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of those things is the thought of a spring season for conferences opting out of the fall. Before it was officially decided to postpone the season to the spring for the Big Ten and Pac-12, Meyer was very vocal about that not being a realistic possibility. He felt the physical grind was too much for a high-contact sport such as football and believed many of the elite players would skip the season to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft.
Now that there has been a renewed energy in playing some sort of season, Meyer was asked again about a spring season and his stance — it appears — has not changed.
“I’m still very opposed to spring — spring won’t happen,” Meyer told BTN. “I don’t see any probability of actually having a spring season. I’ve talked to many colleagues and the reality is that you would have to change the fall in the following 2021 season and the chance of putting two seasons in one calendar year. That conversation’s going to have to stop because that one can’t happen.”
Meyer was a bit more intrigued about a January or February season but also felt that wasn’t ideal and would result in a watered-down product.
“The one that’s interesting Gerry (DiNardo) is a January/February — a shortened season. But I think Nick Saban said it best; that might become a JV type outfit, and that means the great players that actually earned the right to go play professional football won’t play. I can understand that as well.”
In Meyer’s eyes, the only thing on the table that could have a realistic shot at being what everyone is used to is a fall season in some way, shape, or form. Even that though, depending on the start, could leave teams out of the ultimate prize of the College Football Playoff.
“Now you’re hearing a lot of conversation about November, potentially even in October. And now I’m hearing dialogue about, if that happens, then they can’t be involved in the College Football Playoff because the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 are going to start. So this is a very complex conversation to have.”
"The chance of putting two seasons in one calendar year, that conversation's gonna have to stop, because that won't happen."@CoachUrbanMeyer offers his thoughts on B1G football schedule options.
Full Urban Analysis ➡️ https://t.co/tn6jGLDAx0 pic.twitter.com/g3YUQYTZnk
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 3, 2020
Any football at this point as opposed to nothing is a step in the right direction for many, but in order to have something that has all the cards on the table, it almost has to be an October start for Ohio State or any other team in the Big Ten or Pac-12.
Meyer is spot on here, barring any significant changes to the dates the CFP Committee has put out there. If the Big Ten decides to put a fall season back on the table, this could all get very, very interesting.
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