Tag: Big Ten 2020

It’s official, the Big Ten set to play football in the fall again

Notre Dame’s neighbors are back to playing football in the fall.

The rollercoaster ride is over. The Big Ten made their return to fall football official this morning.

The plan is to play 8 games with a conference championship game. It remains to be seen if the smaller sample size will be enough for a team from the conference to qualify for a spot in the College Football Playoff.  If it is, it’s not good news for the Irish.

What we do know is the conference looked foolish the whole decision making process. The back-and-forth through crazy rumors, like schools wanting to opt out and let the rest of the conference play. How about last night when Nebraska president Ted Carter leaked the plans on a hot mic, then later said it was taken out of context. You be the judge.

There’s bound to be more bumps in the road ahead for the Big Ten, first-year commissioner Kevin Warren hasn’t had an easy introduction to his new role. What we do know is that the first conference to move away from fall football has changed their mind. The Pac-12 could be close to following the Big Ten, and we could see college football “whole” again soon.

BREAKING: The Big Ten is back and how it effects the Irish

A report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Big Ten held a vote on Sunday and it looks like they will play fall football after all.

A rollercoaster offseason for the Big Ten is finally coming to a supposed end. Reports today after a revote by Chancellors and Presidents of the 14 schools have the conference looking at starting to play October 17.

After commissioner Kevin Warren “postponed” fall sports less than a week after releasing the reworked fall football schedule, there were plenty of objections to his decision. Warren cited uncertainty more than actual facts which led to an uproar among student-athletes, their parents, coaches, athletic directors, lawyers and fans.

Rumors of revisiting starting a fall football season began last week, but the vote finally occurred this morning leading to the change. As for the Irish view of this, it isn’t great. There is one school in the Big Ten that should contend for a College Football Playoff spot, Ohio State.

That would mean one less spot for Notre Dame to get into the final four, the margin for error just reduced significantly. Now the Irish most likely have to finish the year as an undefeated or one-loss ACC Champion to ensure a spot in the CFP.

Players we’ll miss most from the Big 10 and Pac-12: Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth

Ranking the 10 football players we will miss watching the most from the Big 10 and Pac-12: No. 9 Penn State TE Pat Freiermuth.

The Big Ten announced its decision Tuesday to postpone fall sports. Minutes after, the Pac-12 made the decision to postpone its season as well.

With two of the Power Five conferences not playing, the entire college football season is now up in the air. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 still have plans to have their conference-only seasons, but there are a number of players, coaches and teams that college football fans will miss watching dearly.

The No. 9 player we will miss watching most this year from the Big Ten and Pac-12 is Penn State junior tight end Pat Freiermuth.

Freiermuth has caught more touchdown passes (15) than any other tight end in Penn State history, and he’s done that in only two seasons. He has also caught those 15 touchdowns on just 69 passes. This was going to be a big year for Freiermuth to get involved in the Penn State offense much more regularly.

Freiermuth, who stands at 6-foot-5, 259 pounds, is an excellent route runner with great speed, athleticism and blocking ability. His reception average went from two in 2018 to 3.3 in 2019. That number was expected to go up even more in 2020, making Freiermuth one of the top prospects in the 2021 NFL draft.