As everybody knows today’s pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the sporting world.
Whether the 2020 college football season will occur with fans in the stands, be able to start on time, or even be able to occur at all is yet to be seen. What we can project now, though, is how the almost-definite cancellations of summer practices and preseason camps will affect the Big Ten football teams if the season is indeed able to begin on schedule in early September.
Preseason practices are a pivotal tool in order for college coaches to implement and practice new systems and prepare their teams for the upcoming season.
Probably the most important of these implementations is introducing a new quarterback to a team’s offensive scheme and, in some cases, to college football entirely.
Quarterbacks can study playbooks and watch film all they want, but nothing equates to on-field reps and practicing new plays with actual defenders in front of them.
This is where summer cancellations will have the biggest effect on the 2020 football season.
For top teams in the conference including Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Penn State who all return their starting quarterbacks from 2019, these cancellations will no doubt have an effect, but they will not have nearly as large of an effect as they will on the other teams in the conference who are facing turnover at the position.
The most notable of those teams are Iowa and Michigan State.
Were it a normal offseason and the two schools were able to have a full pre-season preparation period, there’s a chance that they wouldn’t miss much of a beat going into the season.
The talent difference between their departing quarterbacks and the incoming ones aside, summer practices and camps being cancelled will eliminate the chance for Iowa and Michigan State head coaches Kirk Ferentz and Mel Tucker respectively to groom their young quarterbacks and introduce them to college football–not to mention that Tucker is entering his own first year with the program.
Yes, a team like Wisconsin will lose out on valuable time to get redshirt freshman and former four-star recruit Graham Mertz ready for college-level play. But Ferentz and Tucker, as it seems at this point in time, may be forced to enter the season with players under center that aren’t adequately prepared to run their offense–again with Tucker being even more affected due to the fact that his entire team won’t have experience in his system.
How this all plays out is yet to be seen, though if summer practices get cancelled and the season is able to start on time, expect Iowa and Michigan State to face an uphill battle in order for them to get their quarterbacks, and entire offenses, ready for football.
The Badgers are slated to face Iowa on November, 28 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.