Pac-12 Looking At All Options; College Football Is In Trouble

There will be so many changes before the college football season starts and now it doesn’t look good.

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Pac-12 Looking At All Options; College Football Is In Trouble

Ivy to spring; Patriot League canceling games.

Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire

Things are shakey.

We don’t want to be all doom and gloom and bring up bad news all of the time regarding the upcoming college football season but there are some important updates that involve Mountain West teams.

We have mentioned in this space about a spring season and that might be gaining some steam or at least being acknowledged as a possibility. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott was talking with the San Jose Mercury News and he basically said everything is on the table.

“I still want to be cautiously optimistic, but if there’s no change in society’s response and behavior, which results in a quick flattening of the curve and a decrease in the spread of the virus, that would lead to a much more pessimistic view about our campuses being able to open and our ability to play college sports,” Scott said.

“It could be in the next week that we make a clear pivot or three weeks from now — either individual schools, conferences, or the collective,” Scott said. “Or we could keep putting one foot in front of the other and things start to look better.”

The four specific options that Scott mentioned basically covers it all with options, and that is what the Pac-12 should be doing.

— Playing all 12 games as scheduled

— A delayed start

— Conference-only schedules

— Moving the season to the spring

Also to remember is that the Mountain West plays 13 games against the Pac-12 this year, so there could be a ripple effect on the schedules within this conference and beyond.

Other news that is not great regarding college football is that Lafayette of the Patriot League informed Navy they are not playing this game.

This is important since Hawaii is expected to play Fordham Sept. 12 in Honolulu and there is no official word but the Patriot League is basically not playing games that require overnight or flight accommodations.

The Ivy League is leaning hard to a spring football season and is expected to have an announcement on July 8 regarding its upcoming football season. All signs point to yes.

The Ivy League was first to cancel its college basketball season and then all spring sports, so it is no shock that this league would be first to make a move for the upcoming season.

The one other hurdle comes from South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster who said that due to how COVID-19 is causing many issues.

“I will not remove those restrictions. I cannot lift those restrictions if these numbers continue to rise and the danger persists. I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” McMaster said via The State. “This fall will not be like other falls. We will not be able to have college football. We will not be able to have high school football.”

That state includes South Carolina and Clemson who are in Power 5 leagues and the latter are winning national titles under Dabo Swinney. So, not allowing an SEC team and a favorite to win a title would be a huge blow for the season.

Expect there to be a lot of patchwork games this year with teams maybe playing eight games and others up to 10, and if lucky a few get a full season in with 12 games. Also, look for the schedules in place to be changed for a lot of teams and not just FCS vs. FBS teams.

Thinks can change on a dime but this is really a week-to-week scenario for college football and we are approaching the point of no return to have some plans in place for the upcoming college football season.

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