The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: MANY QUESTIONS, FEW ANSWERS
As the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball devise plans to return amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, there has been a factor that should be reassuring for fans — a unified front on most accounts.
Led by commissioners Gary Bettman, Adam Silver and Rob Manfred, there’s likely not a consensus from the fans and players about playoff formats, locations and perhaps those players being isolated during each league’s return.
Still, the owners and commissioners are putting those plans in place as one unit.
College football, on the other hand, is an entirely different situation, and it’s getting messy.
Recently, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith raised eyebrows when he offered up the possibility of as many as 20,000 fans for home games at Ohio Stadium in 2020.
“We have played a little bit with the social distancing concept,” said Smith, who later said, “It’s a process.”
A process that’s spinning across the country.
In California, the Cal-State school system — a set of 23 institutions including FBS San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State — recently announced it would carry on in the fall with online classes only.
Fresno State is scheduled to play Texas A&M this fall, and San Jose State is set to play at Penn State.
In the football hotbed state of Texas, schools such as Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Texas expect to have students on campus in the fall. That gives hopes for college football in that state for the fall, but in what form?
Then there was this May 26: Conferences within the FBS announced early-season game times have been delayed. Included with the statement were CBS Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports and their affiliated networks, a statement released read:
“Collectively, the conferences and television networks have agreed to an extension for determining college football’s earlyseason game times beyond the standard June 1 deadline. These kickoff times and network designations will be announced at a
later date as we all continue to prepare for the college football season.”
From FCS to D-III, it appears college football in the fall might be played out like the wild, wild west. There could be decisions made at the last minute. It could be chaotic.
Locally at the Division III level, John Carroll recently announced it plans to have students on campus in the fall. In a statement from JCU president Michael D. Johnson it read, “We plan to begin on-campus instruction on August 31.”
That’s good news for JCU football players, but that doesn’t not mean the successful football program is assured to have
a season opener to play. That opener is Sept. 5 at Ithaca College in New York. The status of that game seems cloudy at best.
Last week, Ithaca announced it will begin its academic school year Oct. 5. Ithaca college president Shirley Collado said the decision “will allow the college to plan as the coronavirus crisis evolves.”
As for football and other sports, Ithaca reportedly hasn’t planned how it will reintroduce them.
JCU athletic director Michelle Morgan said simply “I don’t know” about the status of the Blue Streaks’ 2020 opener. Ohio Athletic Conference commissioner
Tim Gleason told The News-Herald in an email response, “Nothing at this time. Things are too much in the air.”
For the most part, OAC football schedules play out this way — a nonconference game in early September, then an off week, then nine straight weeks of conference play. It’s feasible JCU could play at Ithaca on Sept. 12, as both teams do not play.
Emails from The News-Herald to Ithaca’s athletic director and associate director of athletic communications inquiring about status of the season opener vs. JCU received no replies.
A JCU at Ithaca game is a nice nonconference
matchup in D-III. JCU was 9-1 a year ago, and Ithaca 8-2. With the game about three months away, and the start of Ithaca’s academic year about four months away ... well, do the math.
Now more than ever, college football at all levels — FBS, FCS, D-II, D-III — would be best served with one voice. A commissioner for each division would be ideal, but that’s not the reality. In most instances, a college or university’s president will make the decision about sports in the fall.
The reality right now is COVID-19 is in charge of the way sports with be conducted and
watched.
As for college football, some school presidents, athletic directors and coaches are making statements about what’s best for their respective institution, and that’s completely fine.
But for the sport as a whole, it adds confusion and more questions.
Everyone involved with college football wants to see games in the fall, but a consensus for each division has to be there.
Unfortunately, that seems lacking these days.