Tag: Big Ten football

BREAKING: Ohio State, Big Ten 2020 college football season canceled for fall, potential to play in spring

The dreaded news is finally here. The Big Ten and Ohio State football season has been shelved for the fall because of COVID-19 pandemic.

You had to feel like it was only a matter of time, even with the best of efforts and plans were in place to keep everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in some ways, trying to get the college football season off the ground in 2020 was a lot like trying to steer your way through an asteroid shower — there was bound to be a hit and destruction the further along things went.

And so, we finally have the news we’ve all been dreading. The 2020 football season has been shelved that is supposed to be reported later Tuesday afternoon. That means no Ohio State football, no Justin Fields Heisman campaign, and not quest for another Big Ten and national title.

There are still developments that could occur, but reports seem to lean on the Big Ten trying to move the season to the spring. It’s now clear that we will not see any scarlet and gray uniforms come through the tunnel in September.

All we can do now is wait and see what the future holds. Hopefully, we get this pandemic under control and can see football again in the spring, and at the worst next fall.

For now, we’ll have to get our Ohio State fix by watching the Buckeyes destroy Michigan in reruns of the last fifteen years like we’ve been doing. Either that, or turn on the MLB, NHL, and upcoming NFL games.

 

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WATCH: Greg Sankey joins the Dan Patrick Show to talk CFB season

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey joined the Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday morning to discuss the current state of college football.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey continues to fight for a college football season in 2020. He has not guaranteed a season, but he is preaching patience while continuing to learn about the Coronavirus and how it relates to student athletes.

This fight comes after a weekend of doubt with rumors circulating that the Big Ten, and more than likely the Pac-12, would be shutting down their respective conferences for the duration of 2020. And Sankey continues to make rounds of interviews to inform others on why the SEC is taking a patient approach.

On Tuesday morning, Sankey joined the Dan Patrick Show to discuss the current state of college football and how that is currently affecting the SEC. Check out a clip from that interview below, which includes a question about welcoming teams from other conferences into the SEC:

The entirety of the Sankey interview with Dan Patrick can be found below following the show, which is currently airing live. You can, however, click back to find the part of the show that included Sankey.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLV5Kfi4lgU]

Stay tuned for more updates on the state of college football from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!

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WATCH: Ryan Day appears on College Football Live to fight for 2020 season

Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day appeared on ESPN’s College Football Live Monday and fought for a 2020 college football season.

It took until the afternoon yesterday for us to hear from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, but when he spoke, it was loud, direct, and with purpose.

After the rumors and speculation got more and more real about the potential loss or postponement of the 2020 college football season, Day threw down the gauntlet with a Tweet vowing to fight for his players. It didn’t stop there either. Day appeared on a segment on ESPN’s College Football Live to continue beating the drum for a college football season and called any cancellation of the season “abrupt.”

He again promised to fight for his team to do everything in his power to have games to play, no matter what that looks like, even entertaining playing in other conferences if it came to it.

Day left no doubt where Ohio State stands on the matter, and came off as a real advocate for continuing to reason and prudence on trying to figure out a way to have college football this fall.

You can watch the entire segment with Day, by clicking on the below video shared by ESPN.

It’s great to see a head coach speak out and call for a regathering of the minds in the midst of so many unknowns. We’re not advocating for ramming a college football season in at all costs, but there has to be a way to get everyone on the same page, examine all possibilities, and come out with a clear path and plan forward.

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.”

College Football Conferences: Who Will Play In 2020, Who Won’t? The Best Guess Is …

After a crazy few days for college football, what’s the status of each of the conferences. Who’ll play this season, and who won’t?

After a crazy few days for college football, what’s the status of each of the conferences. Who’ll play this season, and who won’t?

So, you want to know whether or not your college football conference is playing this fall?

Get in line. This thing is changing by the tweet after the world went bonkers over the last 72 hours.

On Saturday morning the MAC was done, on Sunday evening the entire season was supposedly going to be shut down, and on Monday morning the Dan Patrick Show was telling everyone the Big Ten and Pac-12 were tapping out.

And then everyone got mad.

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Trevor Lawrence let the world to know that college football players want to play college football, college football coaches let the world know that they like college football, and as predictable as Ohio State over Michigan in late November, the president took a sledgehammer to a delicately nuanced situation and politicized it.

The Big Ten pumped the brakes, the rest of the conferences wanted nothing to do with the pounding the B1G was taking, and now there’s supposedly still a chance of a fall football season in some form.

The talk ranged from spring ball in 2021 – total silliness thrown out there to cushion the blow of no 2020 season – to the utter nonsense of Ohio State and Nebraska chirping about finding other places to play. (You’re out of your freaking mind if you think the Big Ten will let the Buckeyes or Huskers play one down in any other league. Two words: TV contracts. Non-conference games, though …)

On a far more serious note, college football fans are about to become heart experts as they learn about the nightmare of a possible COVID-19 side effect called myocarditis.

So now what?

This will be updated on the fly as much as possible, but for now, here’s the best guess on the go-no-go launch status of each conference. All the percentage guesses are based on their apparent respective desires to play or not play if allowed the choice.

ACC

It’s been strangely silent, other than the movement kicked off by Trevor Lawrence.

This is one of the more interesting situations because of the Notre Dame factor. The league has a unique opportunity to have the Irish all to itself for a season, and as long as they’re happy, the league will be happy.

There might be a concern about the status of the other four Power Five conferences, but according to Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, the ACC will “absolutely” play in 2020.

Best Guess Status For 2020: 80% will play

American Athletic Conference

The AAC has the same problem the other Group of Five conferences are dealing with: they’re losing their key revenue-making non-conference dates.

After announcing on August 5th a plan to play eight conference games, the news went back-and-forth throughout Monday. It’s still not a sure thing, but …

Best Guess Status For 2020: 70% will play

Big Ten

The Detroit Free Press went with the story on Monday morning that the Big Ten season was going to be cancelled, but that was before the final be-all-end-all-or-not vote happened.

The Big Ten presidents reportedly were 12-2 – Nebraska and Iowa the outliers – to cancel.

The pushback was swift and strong, with Ohio State, Michigan, and Nebraska the most vocal, at least among fans, coaches and players.

There’s a meeting at 10:30 am ET to make a decision on what to do next.

From all the rumors, news, and opinions flying around, it seems like 1) the medical evaluators don’t think the Big Ten can pull this off, which means 2) the presidents don’t think they can pull this off, which means either 3) the league has a PR disaster coming by cancelling the 2020 season, or 4) the presidents will look like they caved to the pressure of football if they decide to go forward with a campaign.

Oh yeah, and commissioner Kevin Warren is talking about playing in the spring. February football in Minneapolis and East Lansing – yippee.

One key note. The Big Ten is currently scheduled to start its season in early September. while others  are expected to start several weeks later. So …

Best Guess Status For 2020: 70% cancel, 30% delay, with a lean towards kicking the can down the road by suggesting a late September start.

NEXT: Big 12, Conference USA, Independents, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt

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Report: ACC Moving Forward Attempting to Play Football in 2020

There were rumors that the Pac-12 would be just behind the Big Ten and cancel their season as well, but instead we sit at at almost 6:00 pm. ET on Monday and there has been no official word of any additional cancellations.

It’s a roller coaster ride of a day yet again in college football.  It began with the Big Ten seemingly cancelling their season before they came out with leaks that said previous reports were incorrect.

There were rumors that the Pac-12 would be just behind the Big Ten and cancel their season as well, but instead we sit at at almost 6:00 pm. ET on Monday and there has been no official word of any additional cancellations.

We do have a new report out however that one Power Five conference is going to attempt to play football this fall.  Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated is reporting this evening that after meeting today, ACC athletic directors are “moving forward in an attempt to play”.

Notre Dame has obviously joined the ACC for the 2020 season and for those hoping there is football in 2020, it’s a bit of good news.

It’s worth noting that there is no guarantee of anything with that, just that an attempt will be made to play.  If anything it’s good news for the chances of college football in 2020 that an attempt is reportedly still being made to play.

This is going to be a crazy week and I feel like the reports and backtracks are only going to speed up before they slow down.

As always, stay tuned as we’ll have it all covered for you at Fighting Irish Wire.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey responds to rumors of CFB shutdown

College football is on the brink of shutting down for 2020. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is holding out hope, however.

It has been a wild start to the week, as reports and rumors have been swirling surrounding the college football season in 2020. After many conferences released their expected schedules last week, the news shifted over the weekend with the expectation that the Big Ten would cancel fall football.

And that does seem to be where things are heading, but that is not something that has been finalized — at least not at this point. With that said, the news has forced several college football decision-makers to take to social media to make public statements, including Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey.

Here is the statement that Sankey released on Monday afternoon via his Twitter account:

In other words, the SEC is going to continue to push for patience as the college football world seems to be crumbling around them. There is no reason to make this decision on Aug. 10 when the season is not expected to kickoff — at least not for the SEC — until Sept. 26.

There are also rumors circulating that the SEC is looking to maintain the current path towards a football season in the fall with at least one other conference. The Pac-12 looks like it could following the Big Ten’s lead, but the Big 12 and ACC still are not viewed as locks to shut things down.

This could be the wildest college football season of all time.

Stay tuned for more updates on this situation via Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!

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Big Ten reportedly scheduled to meet Monday night on fate of 2020 college football season

There has yet to be a vote on canceling the Big Ten football season per reports. Instead, there is a meeting scheduled for Monday night.

Okay everyone, take a deep breath. It’s been an awfully interesting last 48 hours of college football news, and sourced upcoming news. And it’s not done yet.

Previous and well-sourced information pointed reported a 12-2 Big Ten president’s vote in favor of the Big Ten canceling the fall 2020 college football season. Since then though, that has been clawed back with other sources stating that no vote took place.

So what gives, and what do we believe? Who knows anymore. What does appear certain however at this point is that there is yet another so-called emergency meeting of Big Ten college presidents and that a vote is expected Monday night at 6 PM ET on whether or not the season will be shelved or postponed.

The news was first reported by Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal.

Okay, until it’s not, or until nothing comes of it? We don’t know anymore but all we can do is work with what we know and go with it. So, stay tuned and there’s at least a pretty good chance that we’ll hear some pretty substantial news tonight coming out of the heartland.

Or so we hope.

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

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Look: Ohio State player wants to play in SEC

This Buckeyes player wants to come to the much superior conference for the 2020 season.

With the Big Ten 2020 college football season reportedly being canceled, players all across the Midwest are looking for ways to get on the field.

Yes, that even means coming to the much-hated SEC.

On Monday afternoon, Ohio State outside linebacker Teradja Mitchell tweeted out a question I’m sure maybe some of his teammates are also wondering.

He has the full support from the Buckeyes wide receiver coach Brian Hartline as well.

I say bring it, Buckeyes. We will see how you do playing in a much superior conference.

Opinion: The current disheartening state of college football could lead to a long overdue voice for the athletes

Will the disastrous state of college football leadership lead to athletes organizing and being recognized?

There was a mixture of confusion, anger, and overwhelming sadness swirling in the college football universe as we woke up on this Monday morning preparing for the worst. Last night, the thoughts in everyones mind revolved around a matter of when, not if, the college football season would be officially cancelled.

Over the past few days, as we have neared the official cancellation of Big Ten football this fall, athletes from major conferences have joined together for a Twitter takeover, similar to the MLB and NFL player blitz that occurred recently during their battle over playing a season. Their message on Twitter is simple: We want to play. Clemson’s star QB Trevor Lawrence, who ironically would be a top pick in the draft with or without playing this season, was among those leading the charge as were many Badgers.

This piece is not about whether or not they should play, but instead a part of the #WeWantToPlay message that would shift college football in the direction of the athletes.

One piece of the statements released on Twitter by many of college football’s biggest stars sticks out above the rest: “Use our voice to establish open communication and trust between players and officials; ultimately create a college football players association.”

That sentence strikes fear in every single collegiate athletic department, and most notably within the heart of the NCAA. According to statista.com, NCAA revenue in 2019 was over 867 million dollars. As we know, not a penny of that makes its way back to players pockets. The most absurd part of it is not the fact that players do not receive paychecks, but that players cannot profit on their own success and hard work while in college by using their name and likeness.

The lack of player representation has taken a new turn on a road that has never been traveled by college football or by the nation as a whole. Now, the players have had no say in the conditions with which college football will be played this fall, or if in fact they can drive towards a safe way to play with medical professionals sitting in the front seat instead of outright cancellation.

There is a good that could outweigh the bad, however, within the mess that is college football at the moment. That good is that the organizing of college players — something that has been long overdue — looks to be speeding up.

While sitting in a Madison, Wisconsin classroom this past winter alongside twenty other seniors, I had the privilege of learning from a legendary UW graduate, former MLB commissioner Bud Selig. It was in that setting with the commissioner’s insight, that I first learned the history of player unions in professional sports, which largely started with the MLB and Marvin Miller, an economist and labor leader who was the first executive director of the players union that in professional baseball.

With Miller and the MLBPA, baseball and the sporting landscape changed forever. Players had previously been held to their clubs through the reserve clause. Free agency? A completely foreign concept in 1960. Wages and benefits were extremely low, and there was no platform for the players to voice their concerns over their conditions at work.

The 1968 MLB collective bargaining agreement, organized by Miller and the new players union, raised baseball’s minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,000, but in reality changed the way trillions of dollars in professional sports revenue were handled from then on.

College athletics is not professional sports, as the NCAA tirelessly tries to remind us on a daily basis. Despite that fact, it sure feels as though colleges operate as one of the more cutthroat businesses in America, with football providing needed revenue to keep athletic departments running. The fact is that the hard work of the athletes is what keeps those departments running, and no, they are not normal students as much as the “optics” need them to be. They are essentially working a physical, full-time job — while going to class — where they have no say in massive decisions surrounding that workplace.

The pandemic could be the catalyst for representation. Power Five players now are focusing their energy on organizing for their rights as employees in a billion dollar business, instead of getting ready for the season to start as normal. We know that college athletics is going to change after all of this is over, and the silver lining of this unprecedented disaster may be that those changes come with players demanding their voices to be heard. A short-term disaster could lead to a long-term movement that finally puts power into the hands of the players.