This is the best news of the offseason, as least from where I’m sitting. During a year that’s seen the future elimination of the Big Ten West agreed upon, a new Big Ten scheduling model unveiled and even more conference realignment with Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten in 2024, there is finally a positive headline to share.
The Big Ten announced last week it is requiring teams to submit a player availability report, or injury report, at least two hours before kickoff of every conference game.
This is how the NFL operates in the world of gambling and fantasy football, and it’s great news college football is following suit. I’ve never enjoyed different coaches using ‘deception’ on gameday and us as media and fans never hearing why players aren’t available to play.
Making this information public several hours before kickoff should help the gambling sphere, which unfortunately does matter. From a media perspective, those doing radio or writing pregame articles used to enter Saturday blindly, not knowing if a player will be a sudden late scratch. Thankfully, that changes this fall.
Now the Big Ten can operate like the professional business it is.
Big Ten announces schools must submit a player availability report at least 2 hours before kickoff of each conference game. Big Ten also partnered w/U.S. Integrity to enhance monitoring efforts & provide additional educational resources to help prevent student-athletes, coaches &…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 25, 2023
I wonder what Paul Chryst would’ve said about this news. It’s safe to say it would’ve been an adjustment for him and his staff.