Tag: Big Ten

Notre Dame/Wisconsin still on…for 2021

Notre Dame and Wisconsin are set to meet up…in 2021

It was supposed to be one of the biggest non-conference games in college football this fall but Notre Dame and Wisconsin won’t be playing after all at Lambeau Field.

The back end of the two year series is however still scheduled for Soldier Field in 2021 according to Notre Dame athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, who adds that they’ll work to reschedule the game at the Green Bay Packers home.

For me this series is great as it’s two midwest powers and Barry Alvarez’s connection to Notre Dame’s great run at the end of the eighties only helps that.

What would be better though is if the games took place on the actual college campuses.

Lambeau Field is as great of football venue as I’ve been in but Solider Field is, well, not.

Know what venues are both great?

Camp Randall and Notre Dame Stadium.

Maybe I’m the only one in this world of change but I prefer when college football powerhouses play each other on each others campuses.

Big Ten announces conference-only football schedule for 2020 season

The Big Ten announced today that if fall sports happen, the league will move to a conference-only schedule. Read more details today.

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After plenty of rumor and innuendo, the Big Ten announced today that if fall sports happen, it will move to a conference-only schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This includes your beloved football season.

The decision to move to a conference-only schedule comes after a number of positive COVID-19 tests across college campuses with the return of collegiate athletes.

Here is the full statement released by the Big Ten today:

“We are facing uncertain and unprecedented times, and the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, game officials, and others associated with our sports programs and campuses remain our number one priority.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference announced today that if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports (men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball) based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports. Details for these sports will be released at a later date, while decisions on sports not listed above will continue to be evaluated. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.”

Pay attention to the part of this statement that says “if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports”. It seems the Big Ten is ready to shut down all of the fall sports if the pandemic continues spiraling out of control. We’ll just have to wait and see at this point.

There has been no decision on what happens with non-conference games just yet. We’ll keep you posted as more information is made available.

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Report: ACC opts for conference-only schedule this fall

The ACC is the second conference to decide for a conference-only schedule this fall.

Just hours after the Big Ten announced its move to eliminate non-conference games this fall the ACC has announced it will do the same.

This announcement comes a day after it was first reported that UNC had suspended workouts for at least a week due to a ‘cluster’ of COVID-19 cases. UNC tested 429 student athletes, coaches, and staff members and returned 37 positive cases.

Brett McMurphy of Stadium reported the news on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

The announcement allows the season kickoff to be postponed by at least one month to better ensure the safety and wellness of players and coaches.

Also mentioned is the ACC’s decision to assist Notre Dame with as many games as is needed.

How does this affect the SEC?

Notre Dame was scheduled to play Arkansas on September 12th.

UNC was scheduled to play Auburn on September 12th.

Virginia was scheduled to play Georgia on September 7th.

The SEC has not made any announcements regarding a conference only schedule yet. Brandon Marcello of 247Sports tweeted that he was on the phone with an SEC coach who was “shocked” by the announcement out of the Big Ten, and that was before Brett McMurphy released the ACC’s announcement.

Big Ten’s Statement on 2020-21 Fall Season

Well, it’s official.  Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic had the news earlier today that the Big Ten would only be playing conference games this fall, which means no Notre Dame/Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

Well, it’s official.  Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic had the news earlier today that the Big Ten would only be playing conference games this fall, which means no Notre Dame/Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

The Big Ten just released their official statement in those regards that reads as follows:

We are facing uncertain and unprecedented times, and the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, game officials, and others associated with our sports programs and campuses remain our number one priority.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference announced today that if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports (men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball) based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports. Details for these sports will be released at a later date, while decisions on sports not listed above will continue to be evaluated. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.

This decision was made following many thoughtful conversations over several months between the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, Directors of Athletics, Conference Office staff, and medical experts including the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.

In addition, the Conference announced that summer athletic activities will continue to be voluntary in all sports currently permitted to engage in such activities. Furthermore, Big Ten student-athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics at any time during the summer and/or the 2020-21 academic year due to concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarship honored by their institution and will remain in good standing with their team. 

While Big Ten member institutions continue to rely on the most up-to-date medical information to establish the best protocols for voluntary workouts on their campuses, in compliance with local and state regulations, the Conference is working with the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee to finalize Conference-wide protocols.

As we continue to focus on how to play this season in a safe and responsible way, based on the best advice of medical experts, we are also prepared not to play in order to ensure the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes should the circumstances so dictate.

The Big Ten is the first to announce this move but don’t be surprised if the majority, if not all of the other Power Five conferences join them by the end of the day.

Stay tuned for all the breaking news right here at Fighting Irish Wire!

Related:
Jack Swarbrick not as hopeful for season to start on time

Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau called off

ACC to be Notre Dame’s 2020 football life-raft?

 

Big Ten opts for conference-only football schedule this coming fall

The decision by the Big Ten is expected to create a domino effect throughout the college football landscape as others are assured to follow.

The Big Ten athletic conference announced on Thursday that its member schools will play a conference-only schedule for the upcoming 2020 football season.

Word of the decision leaked earlier in the day when The Athletic’s college football senior writer Nicole Auerbach revealed the news on Twitter. USA TODAY Sports later corroborated the report with multiple people who have intimate knowledge of the decision.

The full press release from the conference is included below.

We are facing uncertain and unprecedented times, and the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, game officials, and others associated with our sports programs and campuses remain our number one priority.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference announced today that if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports (men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball) based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports. Details for these sports will be released at a later date, while decisions on sports not listed above will continue to be evaluated. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.

This decision was made following many thoughtful conversations over several months between the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, Directors of Athletics, Conference Office staff, and medical experts including the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.

In addition, the Conference announced that summer athletic activities will continue to be voluntary in all sports currently permitted to engage in such activities. Furthermore, Big Ten student-athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics at any time during the summer and/or the 2020-21 academic year due to concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarship honored by their institution and will remain in good standing with their team.

While Big Ten member institutions continue to rely on the most up-to-date medical information to establish the best protocols for voluntary workouts on their campuses, in compliance with local and state regulations, the Conference is working with the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee to finalize Conference-wide protocols.

As we continue to focus on how to play this season in a safe and responsible way, based on the best advice of medical experts, we are also prepared not to play in order to ensure the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes should the circumstances so dictate.

The absence of non-conference opponents on a Power Five league schedule could have a big impact on smaller programs that rely on “guarantee games” at major schools for a big part of the athletic budget. It is unclear whether those contracts would call for a penalty payment.

The decision by the Big Ten is expected to create a domino effect throughout the college football landscape, as other conferences are almost assured to follow in the conference’s footsteps. The first league expected to follow suit is the Pac-12, which Auerbach reported in a later tweet is expected to move to a conference-only schedule in the coming days. Stadium Network college football insider Brett McMurphy also reported that the ACC is also strongly considering the change.

At best, the 2020 season will be a shadow of the sport that brings college communities together every fall. However, the most likely outcome at this point is that fans will be lucky if any sports are played at all.

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Big Ten moves to 10-game, conference-only football schedule for 2020

The dominoes might start falling in this direction

We said earlier this week at Trojans Wire that conferences and schools would need to consider alternative plans for a possible 2020 college football season.

The Big Ten has taken that advice and gone one step further: It has signaled where it is likely to go.

Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic had the story first, and other outlets picked it up: The Big Ten is expected to announce a 10-game, conference-only football schedule for the fall.

This decision is significant for a number of obvious reasons. You might already know exactly what they are, but for the sake of clarity in a highly unusual and fluid situation, let’s briefly present the four biggest newsmaker items of this decision:

  1. You are now more likely to see other Power Five conferences, including the Pac-12, move to a conference-game-only scheduling model. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News made the point earlier this week when he recommended a conference-game-only schedule for the Pac-12: Conferences need to have tight control and uniformity of procedure in any games involving their teams. This is clearly why the Big Ten preferred 10 conference games over a model with nine conference games (the normal length of a Big Ten conference-game schedule) and one nonconference game. This is why the Big Ten would rather have Iowa play a tenth conference game than have nine nonconference games and one nonconference game against Iowa State. The travel distance might be minimal for an Iowa-Iowa State game, but the Big Ten did not want the headache of having to coordinate on policy and procedure with the Big 12. This is precisely why conference-only schedules will follow from some conferences in the Power Five, and probably in the Group of Five as well. A key final note: Unlike the Ivy League deciding to postpone fall sports, this is the kind of action other Power Five conferences will take seriously, because it is part of their own membership. This — unlike the Ivies’ decision on Wednesday — is connected to the range of schools with huge budgets and a great financial need to play football (for the TV money).
  2. The second big story flows from the first one above: With no nonconference games in the Big Ten this season, that means Michigan-Washington (Sept. 5), Ohio State-Oregon (Sept. 12), Penn State-Virginia Tech (Sept. 12), Miami-Michigan State (Sept. 26), and Notre Dame-Wisconsin (Oct. 3) are wiped off the slate. Again, the Big Ten didn’t want to have to coordinate across conferences or with outside institutions. Logistics and procedures can be more easily streamlined if the conference keeps everything in house. You don’t have to like it, but that’s the reason for this.
  3. The smaller schools — FBS (Group of Five) and FCS — who can’t play Big Ten teams in 2020 will not get the revenues they were counting on. If other Power Five conferences move to conference-only schedules, more lower-tier football schools will be deprived of crucial revenue. The financial bloodbath you’re beginning to see across college sports is only going to get much, much worse. There’s no point in pretending it won’t, or hoping the government will provide widespread and generous bailouts for all the schools negatively affected.
  4. How will this affect nonconference scheduling for 2021? Will college football decision makers agree to slide back the whole schedule a year, so that — for instance — Ohio State can go to Oregon next year? Or, will these nonconference games never be played? Stay tuned for more on this.

Big Ten To Play Conference Only Football Schedule. 5 Things To Know

Big Ten will move to a Big Ten-only conference schedule this fall. Here are 5 things to know.

The Big Ten will move to a Big Ten-only conference schedule this fall. Here are 5 things to know.

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Big Ten to go with a conference-only schedule. 5 Things To Know.

The Big Ten will move to a conference-only schedule if it decides it’s able to get a college football season going.

This will go for all fall sports, but mostly it’s all about the football season in what would be a fascinating run of – likely – ten games for the season.

What are the five big things that matter, schedule-wise?

2020 Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan
Michigan State | Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota
Nebraska | Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin

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5. It’s going to be a ten game season

This is where the fights are going to begin.

Assuming this all happens like it’s being reported, instead of being a normal 12-game regular season with a Big Ten Championship, the non-conference games will go away and the league will likely play just a ten-game season.

But here’s the problem – that means each team misses three other Big Ten teams, and the disparity is about to be a really big deal.

As it stands right now, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin miss Ohio State, In a ten-game schedule, which one has to deal with the Buckeyes?

Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern and Wisconsin were supposed to miss Rutgers. Which one gets dealt the relative free space card?

This also opens up another key part of this – the timing.

Wisconsin and Indiana are supposed to start the season on September 4th. Purdue and Nebraska, and Northwestern and Michigan State are supposed to play on September 5th. Does knocking off two extra games mean these are all moved to later, so the Big Ten can start things off in late September?

Doing the schedule this way might buy the conference a few more weeks to get going.

4. The big loser? The Pac-12

The Pac-12 was just about to get the big boys in their houses, and now that’s gone – at least for this year.

Michigan was going to go to Seattle to deal with Washington as it begins the Jimmy Lake era, and in one of the biggest games of the season, Ohio State was scheduled to play at Oregon on September 12th.

The ACC also loses big, too, with the Penn State game at Virginia Tech now off, and with the Syracuse-Rutgers game on September 12th done.

BYU will now have to scramble, too, with no September 26th game against Minnesota, and with no trip to Michigan State on September 12th.

But what really stinks is …

3. No Lambeau Field vs. Notre Dame

Wisconsin already lost its date with Northwestern at Wrigley Field – actually, the game is still on, but it’s instead being played in Ryan Field, Northwestern’s home stadium.

Now the Badgers don’t get to play Notre Dame in Green Bay on October 3rd.

For a Wisconsin team that was supposed to go to Michigan a week earlier and face Minnesota right after, not playing a really, really good Fighting Irish team in a game like that is a plus.

The Badgers also get to sidestep the potential landmine of Appalachian State – that as supposed to be played on September 19th.

2. Now, the College Football Playoff committee will have to go to work

With no non-conference games to work off of – considering all the high-profile games were going to shape the national perspective of the league – it’s going to be all about just how good the Big Ten teams look playing each other.

Ohio State is still the odds-on favorite to win this thing, but it has to go to Penn State and Michigan State. At the moment, it’s supposed to miss Wisconsin and Minnesota, but one of them might be on the table.

Penn State gets Ohio State at home, and it missed Wisconsin and Minnesota – for now. The one road date of note is at Michigan, but overall, the schedule looks nice.

Wisconsin has to go to Michigan, but no Notre Dame means the overall schedule makes the West there for the taking again. It will have to get by the regular season finale at Iowa.

So for the College Football Playoff world, the model probably still holds. Win the conference, do it by going unbeaten or with one loss, and you’re in the tournament.

1. And now the dominos are about to fall

Get ready for the ACC and Pac-12 to be next with a conference-only slate.

The Big 12 is set up for this – every team plays everyone else, anyway – and the SEC has been dreaming of this shot to go all SEC all the time and cut out the rest of the world.

Remember, this is just for 2020 – if we get a football season.

It’s not for forever, and things will go back to normal – if possible – for next year. But this allows the Big Ten, and the rest of the conferences, to go by their own sets of rules, protocols, and guidelines.

So for one year, if this can be done safely … LET’S GO.

It’s going to be a blast.

2020 Big Ten Team Previews, 5 Things To Know
East Indiana | Maryland | Michigan
Michigan State | Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers
West Illinois | Iowa | Minnesota
Nebraska | Northwestern | Purdue | Wisconsin

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Big Ten to play only conference games in 2020

Big Ten to play only conference games in 2020.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten will play only conference games during the 2020 football season, multiple people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the USA TODAY Network on Thursday.

The move comes one day following the Ivy League announcing that it will not field athletic competitions during the 2020 fall semester. A decision on fielding winter and spring sports, and whether fall sports competition would be feasible in the spring, will be determined at a later date for the Ivy League.

Notre Dame AD Swarbrick: Football “less likely” to start on time

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick is losing faith that we’ll see college football start on time in 2020. Find out more here.

If you’ve taken a look around the world of college football lately you haven’t gotten a ton of good news in regards to the 2020 season.  Sure, Notre Dame and Michigan both came back with no positive tests recently, but places like Ohio State and North Carolina along with plenty of others have seen positive tests sky-rocket.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick has seen it to, saying Thursday that the chances of the season starting on time have taken a big hit recently.

Swarbrick spoke with ESPN’s Heather Dench and although he’s not punting on a week one start at Navy, he doesn’t seem to be packing his bags to attend, either.

“It has grown more pessimistic over the past two weeks, but I’m not to a point to say we shouldn’t continue to plan for the potential to open on time,” said Swarbrick. “I just think it’s less likely. We have to shift our allocations a little bit — a little more time on planning the alternatives, and a little less time on planning routine go forward.”

I’m with Swarbrick on this one. As good of news as it was to see no positive tests were had by Notre Dame’s football team earlier this week, that’s not the case elsewhere as cases continue to soar on many campuses.

Swarbrick also spoke about the great job Notre Dame’s football team has done following guidelines in order to prevent any potential outbreak of COVID-19 in their locker room.

“It’s so much about the guys and talking with [them], making sure there’s an understanding, appealing to them to do all they can to protect their season”

They understand there’s only two to an elevator in the hotel. They understand they’re not to congregate in rooms. And they’re just doing it.”

The news out of Notre Dame was good to see earlier this week but across much of the rest of the nation things were a bit sour.  Swarbrick is reading the same news reports we all seem to be and appears to be thinking very realistically about all of this.

Here’s to hoping somehow that game at Navy does end up taking place on Labor Day weekend.

Big Ten expected to announce conference-only football schedule this fall

The Big Ten Conference has announced that it will move to a conference-only schedule for the 2019 college football season.

As the world–both within sports and outside–continues to learn how to deal with and adjust to the COVID-19 situation, schools and sports leagues are being forced to make choices to ensure both the safety of students and the viability of sports.

Recently, the Ivy League announced that it had canceled fall sports. Rumors circulated about the potential of moving football to later in the winter or spring, but nothing of the sort has been announced yet.

That, however, is the Ivy League. It is an FCS conference, and football revenues are relatively small there. For a conference like the Big Ten, on the other hand, football revenues make up the backstop of the entire athletic department. Canceling a football season means a loss of tens of millions of dollars per school, which would upend college sports as we know it. On the other hand, playing football in an unsafe environment would be equally devastating for college sports.

The Big Ten, therefore, seems to have decided to try to split the difference. In order to minimize travel and to keep athletes’ contact with other school as limited as possible, the conference has decided on a conference-only schedule this year. Not only does conference-only more or less limit travel, it also allows the conference to set standards and rules for how the conference has to act. Even if some schools (for example, Iowa) play nonconference games within driving distance, but it would be difficult for the Big Ten to impose or enforce safety standards on schools from other conferences, like Iowa State or Northern Iowa.

Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic was the first to break this news.

This is a developing story. The conference has not yet announced what it will do with rescheduling nonconference games, how many games will be played, and how this will work with current television deals. We will update this story as more information becomes available.

And, of course, we are still two over months from the start of football season. Plans definitely can change between now and the start of the season, whenever that may be.