It has been a total of 121 days since the sports world came to a stand still. A total of four months since any athletic competitions have taken place on the Forty Acres or ones that have involved the University of Texas. The Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were cancelled. As were the NCAA tournaments to crown new national champions. The Longhorns promising start in baseball was halted. The historic start by the Texas Longhorns women’s softball team interrupted.
The hope was that after those four months that we might see the Texas Longhorns football team take the field at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 5th. The chances of that opening kickoff against the South Florida Bulls seems like the longest of longshots with each passing day. While other countries are seeing a return to their sports leagues, football doesn’t feel like much of a possibility.
Each day there has been news about conference leadership having meetings about how sports can return with the health and safety of the athletes and staff in mind. However, when the Big Ten cancelled all non-conference games more doubt started to creep in. Not to mention that came off the heels of the Ivy League cancelling all fall sports. Then the PAC 12 and ACC were both rumored to follow the lead of the Big Ten.
“One thing we have to realize that this is not a fait accompli that we’re gonna have sports in the fall,” Warren said. “We may not have sports in the fall. We may not have a college football season in the Big Ten.” – USA TODAY Sports via the Detroit Free Press
Hope. It is something that we have all held on to for the last several months. Trying to go about a semblance of a normal life believing that we could very well have football. Was it having faith that sports would return or was it being naive? If the commissioner of a major conference doesn’t believe that we will have sports, why should we? It didn’t stop with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren either.
The SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has yet to make a decision on cancelling non-conference games. However, his recent statement echoed the sentiment of Warren. Sankey stated his concern for football this fall as “high to very high” according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.
“We are running out of time to correct and get things right.”
The PAC 12 followed the decision to cancel the non-conference games and it was recently reported commissioner Larry Scott tested positive for COVID-19. It almost feels impossible that we do see football and while others have come to grips with that idea, some of us held onto hope.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has been bullish on the idea of playing football this fall and it starting on time. That was his stance back in late May. A little over a month later, is he still feeling that way? In response to the two conferences that have announced the changes to their schedules, if feels as if Bowlsby is in no hurry to make a decision.
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports recently published an article discussing where Bowlsby currently sits.
“We need to do what our doctors and our scientists are telling us, which is move slowly ahead and constantly reevaluate,” Bowlsby told CBS Sports on Thursday. “The virus is going to decide whether we’re ready and able to play.”
He goes on to say that the Big 12 commissioner wasn’t happy with the quick decision from Warren. In a time where all the power five schools should be in unison, they are very much operating on their own.
“[Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren] never gave any indication that this is what they were going to do,” Bowlsby said. “In fact, he told us this morning at some length that he was not going to surprise anybody and that he would get to us in advance.”
Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12 are aiming for a concrete decision in late July. That deadline would put them just over five weeks away from the start of the college football season.