Tag: Kansas Jayhawks football

Our friends at Sooners Wire were on top of this breaking news Saturday afternoon: Oklahoma has moved up its season opener against Missouri State to August 29. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 5.

BOOMER! The 2020 season opener has been moved to Aug. 29, one week earlier than originally scheduled.

⭕️🙌🏈🔙🔜 https://t.co/2RFjLKK0FT pic.twitter.com/YLsysqrwQa

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) July 25, 2020

Meanwhile, the Kansas Jayhawks also scheduled an FCS opponent for Aug. 29. KU grabbed a so-called “Week Zero” slot against Southern Illinois:

Kansas adds Southern Illinois for season opener on Aug. 29 #KUfballhttps://t.co/oSAqe1uyq9

— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) July 25, 2020

Wait a minute, you might reasonably wonder.

The Pac-12 is likely to start its season on Sept. 19. The Big Ten will probably do something similar, if not exactly the same. The ACC has not voted on any schedule just yet, but the three likely start dates range from Sept. 12 to Sept. 26.

Remember that while other Power Five leagues are likely to start in mid- or late September, the Big 12 had already shown signs of moving in a very different direction, weeks before Oklahoma and Kansas officially filled Aug. 29 on their calendars.

There have been discussions between TCU and UNLV to play on Aug. 29, something we noted earlier in the week at Trojans Wire. TCU is filling a gap on UNLV’s schedule, since the California Golden Bears were originally supposed to face the Rebels on Aug. 29 in the first game played at the brand-new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

You might wonder why the Big 12 feels it has to move in this direction, swimming against the tide of a majority of power conferences. That is a reasonable inclination, and we will address it in a separate article. For now, though, simply realize this:

While the need to buy time and ride out COVID-19 is a reasonable inclination among many schools and conferences, it’s not the only reasonable thought process for schools to use in this pandemic.

Think about this point: If you were to have a better chance of playing 12 games, would you wait, or would you actually try to start earlier? Remember that in late November, cases of illness might increase. Any postponements of games during the regular season would force makeup games later in the year, and would push back the conference championship games plus the bowls. Starting a season earlier — collecting games played, and collecting TV and ticket-sale-based revenue earlier — is not ridiculous.

It’s debatable, sure, but hardly ridiculous.

The Big 12, by starting earlier, gives itself more chances to make up games and play as close to a full schedule as possible. The added benefit here is that Big 12 schools are giving FCS schools and smaller FBS programs the game checks they need in order to maintain their budgets. This is an act of economic generosity, even though it is primarily an act of economic self-interest. The Big 12 is scoring points with smaller schools for trying to go all the way and play 12 games — or at least as many games as possible.

We can debate the merits of this plan, but it’s not insane. Some will ask why the Pac-12 and Big Ten were so cautious, not why the Big 12 is being so aggressive. That doesn’t mean the Big 12 is right or the Pac-12 wrong; it merely means there’s a reasonable thought process at work here.