The Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their fall seasons. So now what for them, and for the rest of college football?
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They’ve been among the wildest, craziest, and saddest few days in the history of college football – at least off the field.
Start with this – the entire sport didn’t shut down like many thought it might when the doom-and-gloom predictions started on Sunday night.
What’s really going on, and what’s going to happen going forward?
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5. The Big Ten and Pac-12 hit the pause button
It wasn’t a total stunner that the two big conferences decided not to play their respective 2020 fall college football seasons, but it wasn’t quite supposed to happen like it did on Tuesday.
The Pac-12 was always on the verge of shutting things down.
From the outbreak of the virus in Arizona, to the concerns with a new wave in Los Angeles, to several schools throughout California choosing to operate remotely, it was always just a question of time before it was all going to be over.
The player demands and movement weren’t why the conference chose not to play in the fall of 2020, and that wasn’t likely a big factor, but the demands for change hit a major roadblock after this.
The league simply decided it couldn’t do it. From travel, to logistics, to the lack of adequate testing, the recommendation was that the Pac-12 not play a full contact sport like football this fall, and that was it.
It wasn’t so easy for the Big Ten, especially considering it announced the shutdown just before the news broke that Kamala Harris was going to be Joe Biden’s VP choice. The Pac-12 announced its news after.
Big Ten Statement on 2020-21 Fall Seasonhttps://t.co/BCiRSzeAPL
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) August 11, 2020
News leaked out on Monday that the B1G was going to shut down, the pushback made it seem like there was still hope, and then, by early afternoon on Tuesday, it was all done.
The thought was that the league was going to take a step back and wait a few weeks by moving its schedule start from the first week of September to the last week like the other Power 5 conferences, but nope. The presidents decided to stop the fall season.
Both conferences join the MAC and Mountain West in the idea of playing in the spring – more time to figure out a consistent plan (in other words, better testing) – but the dust has to settle first.
Too many questions have to be answered, from eligibility, to the transfer potential, to whether or not Nebraska – who wants to break ranks and play – might come up with a schedule of its own.
And now …