Tag: BIG Ten Conference

Opinion: Wisconsin AD’s comments make no sense after season cancelled

Wisconsin’s athletic director Barry Alvarez made a statement following the cancellation of the Big Ten’s season and they make no sense.

It has been less than 24 hours since the Big Ten Conference finally announced that they would cancel their 2020 football season. The hope being that they can resume football in the spring. An idea that has seemingly been kicked around for weeks. While the Big Ten was joined by the Pac-12 in cancelling, the remaining three Power Five conferences are moving forward.

The Big Ten Conference and commissioner Kevin Warren released a statement on their decision. One in which they cited player safety and medical advice as the reasoning. There is a lot of unknown as to the long-term effects of COVID-19 so they decided to err on the side of caution. Then there was Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Barry Alvarez.

Alvarez who was the head coach at Wisconsin from 1990-2005 stated that the team will stay on 20-hour weeks during an interview with the Big Ten Network. Which at first thought sounds like a great plan. Then as you begin to let that sink in, it makes zero sense.

Essentially, the Big Ten has stated that they are looking out for the mental and physical wellbeing of their student athletes. They want to remove any unnecessary risks to prevent contraction of COVID-19 to their athletes. Noble cause.

However, you are expecting the students to go class every day. You are expecting them to be round their teammates. Continue to practice for 20 hours each week, drills and everything that comes with it. Then you say that is is unsafe for the players to play in the games.

Opinion: The Big 12 Conference should give Nebraska, Ohio State a call

With the uncertainty of the Big Ten Conference and the Big 12 set to meet on Tuesday, they should entertain the idea of expansion.

It was a wild and crazy Monday as the day started with discussions of the Big Ten Conference ready to announce that they would be cancelling or postponing the 2020 college football season. It was even reported that there was a vote of 12-2 in favor of cancellation. Iowa and Nebraska were named as the two schools still in favor of moving forward with the season.

Given the certainty of the conference announcing a cancellation, it was quite believable that there was a vote. Until reports began surfacing that a vote didn’t take place. Was it a bad source? Or did the Big Ten put out a rumor to gauge the backlash that would follow? We may never know but it was quite interesting to say the very least.

According to Phil Harrison of Buckeyes Wire, the Big Ten Conference will hold a meeting Tuesday morning with school presidents. Could we finally have some sense of a season from the Big Ten perspective? Well, maybe. The interesting thing that came out of Monday’s chaos just happen to be a few coaches standing up for their teams and pleading to play.

Nebraska’s Scott Frost was the first to be brought to my attention.

In a message to the media, Frost said they want to play football whether they have to look outside of the Big Ten to accomplish that task. In a similar statement, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day wants to play whether that is in the Big Ten or with another conference.

Even the Buckeyes bitter rivals, Michigan and head coach Jim Harbaugh issued a statement about playing this season. If it all comes to a head and the school presidents cancel football, should those schools go looking elsewhere? One rumored report discussed all three teams discussing a move to the Big 12 even if it was just for one season. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman refuted the report but should Bob Bowlsby entertain the idea?

As the Big 12 Board of Directors meeting draws near, they should exhaust every avenue, every discussion and ask every question. If those three teams plus Iowa want to join for a season so they can have football then why not? If it can be deemed safe enough to play, a season should be played.

The Texas Longhorns have future matchups with Michigan and Ohio State down the road but what if you could see those matchups this season? Nebraska head coach Scott Frost brought up some valid points on the financial side during his press conference. Schools, college towns, states, faculty and staff would all be impacted by no sports.

Many reports surfacing show that the Big 12 is likely split on their decision as of right now. However, the school feels like they are in a good place to have football. The team is ready to play, the coaches are ready to coach and you can be the fans are ready to be fanatics. The idea might sound crazy at this point but it is 2020.

To quote head coach Tom Herman, “desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Longhorns old foe Nebraska is one of two Big Ten teams wanting to play

The Longhorns old foe, Nebraska is one of two Big Ten teams in favor of playing. The vote to cancel was 12-2 in favor of postponement.

News on the upcoming college football season has been dropping at a fast and furious rate. Will we or won’t we have a season? Well as far as the Big 12 is concerned that meeting is scheduled to happen on Monday evening at 5 p.m..

The Big Ten Conference has been the one in the headlines most as of late, their leadership had a meeting to discuss their future. All signs have pointed towards them cancelling the season or moving everything to the spring. All 14 schools were involved in a vote to determine the best course of action.

According to the Dan Patrick Show, the Longhorns old foe Nebraska was one of two schools who voted in favor of playing.

It is a bit odd how conferences pushed to get the new 2020 college football season’s schedules out but now are seemingly pushing to postpone the year. A spring schedule seems inevitable but to what end? Is it really going to be better in February and March versus now? Hopefully we get answers soon as the Big 12 meeting looms.

As reports surface about cancelling football, Big 12 sets meeting

SI’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger are reporting that the Power Five conferences are looking to cancel the season. Big 12 set Monday meeting.

Over the past several days there has been an uneasy feeling about the possibility of a cancelled 2020 college football season. The NCAA President Mark Emmert recently spoke about the path forward being a rough one. Even CBS Sports writer Dennis Dodd spoke with two anonymous athletic directors that believed it was inevitable.

On Sunday afternoon however, the report that many didn’t want to hear began to make its way to twitter. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger tweeted out that the Big Ten Conference was set to cancel football for the 2021 season. Again it isn’t surprising but nothing something that one wants to hear.

Shortly afater that report surfaced, Clemson’s quarterback Trevor Lawrence took to Twitter to plead for the opportunity to play. Many athletes have voiced their opinions with hashtag Let Us Play. Here is what Lawrence had to say about it.

People are at just as much, if not more risk, if we don’t play. Players will all be sent home to their own communities where social distancing is highly unlikely and medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract covid19 (1)

Not to mention the players coming from situations that are not good for them/ their future and having to go back to that. Football is a safe haven for so many people. We are more likely to get the virus in everyday life than playing football. Having a season also incentivizes

Players being safe and taking all of the right precautions to try to avoid contracting covid because the season/ teammates safety is on the line. Without the season, as we’ve seen already, people will not social distance or wear masks and take the proper precautions

The former National Championship winning quarterback makes a sound argument for not only his teammates but for players across the nation. While you can argue it could be safer for athletes if they don’t subject themselves to contraction by playing. The players seem to want to play. They don’t feel that they are safer by not playing. You can be the judge on being for or against it. As for the Big 12 Conference, they are set to meet on Monday at 5 p.m. according to Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Nothing has been made official yet but it is quite possible come 6 p.m. on Monday that we will have some finality to this situation. Whether or not the Big 12 follows the Big Ten or they attempt to play on their own.

The Big Ten releases a statement about instructions for fall camp

An update from the Big Ten on instructions for fall camp

On top of the news that the MAC is cancelling their fall football season, things are not looking great for the Big Ten conference this fall.

This morning, the Big Ten conference released a statement about the upcoming start of fall camp and announced that they would be taking a very cautious approach. Within the release, the conference detailed that athletes will wear helmets only, and will not move to pads beyond the first two days.

The decision is related to the fact that there is still uncertainty surrounding a start date to the season, and if that start date will come this fall.

Here is the complete release from the Big Ten.

Next … Big Ten statement on fall camp progression

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Big Ten releases statement on pausing progression to pads in fall camps

The Big Ten conference released a statement on Saturday calling for the pausing of progression to pads in fall camps.

It’s been a day of seemingly unfortunate news in the world of college sports. First, we got breaking news that the Mid-American Conference has canceled football for 2020. That alone has set social media ablaze with speculation and doomsday scenarios for college football in general.

But that’s not all.

At around the same time this morning, the Big Ten conference released a statement on prudence and caution as it moves through the natural progression of fall camps, electing to keep athletes in helmets only, and not moving to pads beyond the first two-acclimatization days.

The statement painted a rather grim picture of Big Ten teams being able to progress through fall camp and be ready to play in week one — especially Ohio State that is scheduled to kick off even earlier on Thursday, Septemeber 3.

Here is the complete release from the Big Ten.

Next … Big Ten statement on fall camp progression

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Big Ten gives teams clearance to move forward with 2020 football fall camps

After waiting on a decision for a few days, the Big Ten has provided official clearance to move forward with fall football camp this Friday.

The Big Ten provided its much-anticipated conference-only schedule on Wednesday and there’s plenty to talk about.

Lost in all of the analysis and gazing of the schedules for all the teams though is another point we’ve all been waiting on. While appearing on the Big Ten Network, commissioner Kevin Warren confirmed that schools have been given the green light to move forward with the start of fall camps for football this fall beginning on Friday.

Questions have been abounding on whether the start of camp would be delayed with swirling news of a novel coronavirus outbreak at Rutgers, other teams and conferences canceling their seasons, and still other high-profile players opting out of playing at all for 2020.

When asked if the schedule release meant that teams can begin preparing for fall camp, Warren instantly confirmed that yes, that was the case.

So there you have it. Onward and upward we go. Things are still on pace for an on-time start to the 2020 college football season in the Big Ten, but there’s still a lot to be determined.

Further outbreaks of the virus at member institutions, or local and state guidelines and policy could also play a part in putting some major hurdles in the way of college football in 2020.

We’ll just keep providing the up-to-date news as it happens and remain hopeful.

 

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Ohio State overwhelming favorite to win Big Ten according to annual Cleveland.com poll

Ohio State is once again the overwhelming favorite to win the Big Ten according to a Cleveland.com poll of conference writers.

It used to be that the Big Ten conference would publish preseason awards. That went the way of rationale discussions in this country though, so Cleveland.com picked up the effort. Now, instead of a preseason favorite and offensive and defensive players of the year coming from Chicago, it now comes by way of a poll conducted by Cleveland.com of several writers in the conference.

And even though the COVID-19 pandemic has the sports world turned upside down, that tradition continued this past week, with a familiar outcome when it comes to which team is favored to take home the Big Ten title.

Yes, your Ohio State Buckeyes are an overwhelming favorite to win the Big Ten East and eventual conference title. In fact, the Buckeyes received 33 of 34 first-place votes from the panelists voting in the poll. It was the same margin for both the Big Ten East and conference titles. The team receiving that other first-place vote was Penn State. We’re guessing it was someone in Pennsylvania or somehow related to James Franklin.

It was a little less clear in the West division. Wisconsin came out on top, but Minnesota was a close second, receiving just five-less first-place votes.

So how did all of the voting break down?

Next … the complete poll results found on Cleveland.com

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Three bold takes and one guarantee for the 2020 Big Ten conference-only season

The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away. Yes, there are still question marks…

The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away.

Yes, there are still question marks about what the schedule will look like and if September 4 is a realistic date to start the season. But from what we know now, the Badgers and the rest of the conference will play a conference-only schedule and (hopefully) a conference championship and bowl season.

A lot about the season and each team’s chances changed when the Big Ten altered their schedule, so I went through the top teams in the conference earlier this week and analyzed how their stock was affected by the change. Long story short, the elimination of out-of-conference games has a profound affect on the season outlook of many of the conference’s leading programs.

Today we’re going a little more into the weeds and making three bold claims and one guarantee about what is to come during the altered season.

First, the three bold claims:

 

No. 1: The Indiana Hoosiers will finish the season No. 3 in the Big Ten East and with a better record than Michigan

NCAA Football: Indiana at Maryland
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) looks to pass during the first quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

I never thought I would ever type those words out, but when you look at each team’s schedule and different preseason situations it makes a lot of sense.

First, Indiana has only four challenging games on their schedule: at Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Ohio State and at Michigan.

Michigan, on the other hand, has five: vs Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Minnesota, vs Indiana and at Ohio State.

What’s the difference between those schedules? Most of Indiana’s tough games are on the road in what will likely be empty stadiums and most of Michigan’s will be at home in front of an empty stadium.

So the playing field is leveled a bit to start.

Second, and the biggest reason the Hoosiers are trending upward while Michigan is going the opposite direction, is Indiana welcomes back Michael Penix Jr. after an 8-5 2019 season while Michigan needs to groom Dylan McCaffrey to take over the starting job after going 9-4 last season.

Having talent and experience return at the quarterback position is pivotal this year as the preseason is already different and shortened in addition to the fact that out-of-conference “cupcake” games that are usually important to preparing a quarterback for conference play are no longer on the schedule.

I’m buying Indiana’s stock with Penix Jr. under center, a veteran offensive line and an improving defense and selling Michigan’s with a new quarterback and a gauntlet of a schedule.

 

Next…one of the Badgers’ division rivals who will be taking a step backwards this season

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Big 12 to ‘move forward slowly’, ‘constantly reevaluate’ college football season

The Big 12 conference will not yet make a decision regarding COVID-19 and the upcoming college football season

The Big 12 conference will not yet make a decision regarding COVID-19 and the upcoming college football season.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby explained on Tuesday that the conference will continue to monitor before makings its final decision.

”I believe it’s too early to be making those decisions,” Bowlsby told the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “Frankly, we haven’t been advised to do that by our scientists and medical advisors. We’ve been advised to move forward slowly and constantly re-evaluate and that’s what we’ll keep doing until we’ve told it’s inadvisable.”

The Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences have both opted for a conference-only schedule already.

Coronavirus numbers have spiked across the country recently, leaving a fog of doubt over whether the season will happen at all.

Big 12 AD’s were briefed on Tuesday by Kansas State team physician Dr. Kyle Goerl regarding COVID-19 testing and monitoring.

“We’re going to have to be patient and continue to read the tea leaves and see what the next two or three or four weeks bring us.” Bowlsby said. “If things get worse, that will inform one set of decisions. If things get better, that will inform another set of decisions.”

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