Frustration growing in college football
Paul Myerberg
In fits and starts, every conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision has come to the same conclusion: It’s possible to conduct an improvised season with the right health and safety guidelines in place to mitigate the risks posed by COVID-19.
These protocols have postponed or canceled three games on this week’s schedule and 37 games overall, with that number guaranteed to grow in the coming weeks.
In other words, the guidelines have worked – put simply, games are played when the protocols are met and canceled when not.
That hasn’t stemmed the frustration expressed by some programs, coaches and athletics directors at the inability to make the most of the slim chances afforded during this truncated season.
Efforts to optimize these opportunities have been met almost universally with rolled eyes and shrugged shoulders, and even conflated with arrogance in the face of the pandemic.
Instead of suggesting an ignorance of the dangers posed by COVID-19, this push reflects the desire to play as many games as possible under safe conditions – the same mindset that led conferences to try to conduct the season in the first place.
For example, this week has further exposed the widening fissure between the Big Ten and Nebraska, which was rebuffed in its efforts to substitute a non-conference opponent from the Championship Subdivision, Chattanooga, in place of Saturday’s canceled matchup against No. 11 Wisconsin.
“We believe the flexibility to play non-conference games could have been beneficial not only for Nebraska, but other Big Ten teams who may be in a similar position as the season progresses,” Nebraska chancellor Ronnie Green and athletics director Bill Moos said in a joint statement.
“The ability for all Big Ten members to play a non-conference game if needed could provide another data point for possible College Football Playoff and bowl consideration.”
This discord has birthed an asinine conspiracy theory among fans and on social media suggesting the Big Ten has singled out Nebraska for the Cornhuskers’ vocal opposition to the initial plan to postpone the season until the spring, which played a role in the
league’s subsequent reversal.
If anything, the Big Ten’s decision to start the season in late October dealt a blow to the entire conference by eliminating the ability to reschedule canceled games and ensure that Ohio State and others remained in the mix for the national championship.
What the friction does reveal is a genuine disconnect on a profound level between the conference and one of its members. The Big Ten will survive regardless.
But Nebraska is right on this point:
Teams have worked to stay clear of major outbreaks, with varying degrees of success. They have dealt with protocols, quarantines and testing. By and large, they have worn masks and socially distanced. They have taken all the steps mandated by conference guidelines. They have accepted that playing in a pandemic comes with a long list of nonnegotiable requirements. And they want to play.
If or when unable to do so, the frustration should be as understandable as it is obvious.
“It’s just hard to swallow,” said Ohio State coach Ryan Day. “When you look at your players and your coaches, all the sacrifices that have been made, and they don’t have a game this week, and they didn’t do anything wrong, that’s really hard.”