Tag: B1G Conference

USC to not play Notre Dame for the first time since 1945

No Irish

The Pac-12 was the next major conference to announce a massive shakeup in their scheduling for this fall’s football season. The Pac-12 joined the Big Ten in playing a conference-only schedule should the football season take place this fall. The news was first reported by Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic and then confirmed by the official announcement from the Pac-12 just moments ago.

With the Trojans playing a conference-only schedule, this means they will not play their biggest non-UCLA rival within one of college football’s longest-running inter-sectional rivalries. Yes, USC will not play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the first time since 1945. The last time the Trojans didn’t play the Irish was the 1943-’45 window during World War II. Coronavirus (and, one could argue, bad American governance) will now be the reason they don’t play for the first time in 75 years.

The Trojans will also avoid playing the Alabama Crimson Tide to open the season. In this specific sense, the Trojans likely dodged a bullet. The Crimson Tide were favorites to win the SEC and compete for a national championship come the winter. With everything up in the air and little time to prepare for these games, it’s probably a good idea that this game isn’t being played. It’s the highest level of football you can get; a lack of prep time is the easiest way to ensure injuries on both teams.

You simply need more time to play a game like this and the powers that be couldn’t do that safely. To that end, it’s a good thing that USC and Alabama will not play this year, but let’s hope the two schools find a way to reschedule a game that would be highly entertaining. It deserves to be played when the country isn’t being swarmed by a pandemic.

Another team that will lose out on playing USC is New Mexico. Similar to the Alabama game but inverted, it’s probably a good thing for New Mexico that the Lobos won’t have to play USC for all the reasons listed above; injuries and lack of prep time just don’t bode well for a team with an already glaring physical deficiency in this game. The Lobos will lose a good paycheck, though, and that’s the type of stuff that helps fund other programs.

It’s time to stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen

Real talk about the present moment

What a week of turmoil and tumult for college sports.

Wednesday it was announced that Ohio State football had suspended voluntary workouts. That was just the beginning. On Thursday, it was announced the Big Ten had suspended all non-conference games and would only be playing a conference schedule this fall. Shortly after this announcement, the Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach said that the Pac-12 could soon adopt a conference-only schedule. This report was then confirmed by another reporter. These events represent a series of dominoes falling, one by one, and each of them moves college football one step closer to being canceled in its entirety for the current sports cycle (through June of 2021) or potentially moved to the spring.

But it’s clear from the rising cases and death tolls that the officials and powers that be should stop trying to make a season happen this year. It’s simply just not safe enough or worth the risk. The current administration has show no inclination to prevent further contamination, they’re currently telling folks that they need to learn to live with the disease. While younger people are less prone to dying, even one athlete’s life is not worth the risk of playing a game. Sports are the reward of a functioning society and we’re not there yet as a nation.

Football is great. I love the sport and hate that we have so few sports to watch right now. That said, I fully understand why we shouldn’t be playing them even as other nations are. They actually listened to scientists, stayed inside, wore masks, and the curve flattened and allowed them to return to a normal way of life. Not a single state has done that here in America, Washington probably comes the closest.

If fans want to see college football this fall, the formula is clear as day. Wash your hands, social distancing is a must, wear a mask, and self-quarantine. These simple items will do wonders in returning life to normal. When life returns to normal, sports will be back with a vengeance. Athletes want to play, fans want to see them play, but it’s imperative that they are healthy and safe when they play. If that can’t happen, then they shouldn’t be playing.

Why conference-only isn’t the solution

Spring football should be considered.

Wednesday it was announced that Ohio State football had suspended voluntary workouts. Thursday it was announced the Big Ten had canceled all non-conference games and would only play a conference schedule this fall. Shortly after this announcement, the Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach said that the Pac-12 would likely soon choose to play a conference-only schedule. This report was then confirmed by another reporter. Each of these instances amounts to just another notch closer to football being canceled in its entirety this fall, or postponed and potentially moved to spring.

But it’s clear from the rising cases and death tolls that the officials and powers that be should stop trying to make a season happen this year. It’s simply just not safe enough or worth the risk. The current presidential administration has shown no inclination to prevent further contamination; it is currently telling folks that they need to learn to live with the disease. While younger people are less prone to dying, even one athlete’s life is not worth the risk of playing a game. Sports are the reward of a functioning society, and we’re not there right now as a nation.

Conference-only games might seem like the solution here, but they’re not. The idea behind conference-only games is that schools can eliminate a number of environments they’re not familiar with in some cases; this hypothetically makes it easier for them to track-and-trace if there is an outbreak or an infection. It also does a decent job of limiting exposure in various forms. Yet, if a school is not able to completely eliminate risk or at least reduce it to an acceptable standard, it’s still a bad idea to conduct business as usual.

The Ivy League made the smart decision to not play any games this autumn. Not only does this allow them more time to get a handle on the COVID-19 cases in their immediate area, it also allows the universities in the league to create an environment in which the athletes are not in danger of contracting a virus simply so the school can make revenue by playing a football game. Spring football is becoming a more popular solution as this drama wears on. Perhaps it’s time the Pac-12 and USC gave spring football a closer look.