Is Big Ten move just the first domino for college fb?
College football may be on a ventilator too
(AP) - The Big Ten athletic directors and presidents on Thursday decided to move all fall sports to a conference-only model, a decision that will have a snowball effect on the rest of college football.
It will affect 36 scheduled opponents, including 28 from the FBS and eight from the FCS. Six FBS schools -- Ball State, Bowling Green, BYU, Central Michigan, Uconn and Northern Illinois -were scheduled to play two Big Ten opponents this season.
The Big Ten is the first of the Power 5 conferences to make this type of a major change to its fall sports. The SEC on Thursday said it continues to meet with campus leaders “to determine the best path forward” for fall sports, and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement that he has been advised to “move ahead slowly” and plan “for all available scenarios.” Meanwhile, the ACC has already said it would delay all fall sports until at least Sept. 1.
The Ivy League on Wednesday ruled out playing all sports this fall.
The Big Ten will lose marquee nonconference matchups, including Michigan’s road game at Washington on Sept. 5, Ohio State’s trip to Oregon on Sept. 12, Michigan State’s home game against Miami on Sept. 26, and Wisconsin’s contest against Are other conferences going to follow suit?
Probably, though the SEC would likely show the most resistance to it because of enormous pressure from within the conference to play as many games as possible. If the other four major conferences are in lockstep, though, it probably will force SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to join them.
As for the Pac-12, it just lost one of its biggest nonconference games. The presidents were meeting Friday.
A source in the Big 12 told ESPN recently that the conference athletic directors were unanimously in favor of playing a full schedule, but commissioner Bowlsby might be able to convince them otherwise, especially on the heels of the Big Ten’s news. Sources say the ACC would be amenable to a conference-only schedule.
Every conference at the FBS level has been considering a conference-only model since March, so it’s not a new concept to any of them. If they want to follow the Big Ten’s lead, any of them should be able to do it quickly, and it would make sense to decide sooner than later so that all of the opponents who have been cut from the schedule could also make their own plans. What does conference-only play mean for Notre Dame?
For the independent outlier, this is a predicament, but there is a solution. First, losing the Wisconsin game is significant, but the Fighting Irish could overcome that alone. The problem comes if the Pac-12 does follow suit, because then Notre Dame would lose two additional games, in Stanford and USC. The most likely and expected scenario there would be for Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick and ACC commissioner John Swofford to extend their partnership and have the Irish fill the rest of their schedule with ACC games. Notre Dame is set to play six ACC opponents already.
Swarbrick said Thursday he thinks it’s “less likely” the college football season starts on time, citing growing concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“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,” Swarbrick said in an interview with ESPN. “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.”
Notre Dame’s return plan, which has its football players living in a hotel on campus for the summer, has largely worked. Notre Dame has tested a total of 252 students, coaches and staff and received just one positive result.
“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,” Swarbrick said. “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.”
Notre Dame last month was the first major school to announce a change to its football schedule when it moved the season-opening game against Navy to Navy-marine Corps Memorial Stadium.