MAC FIRST PIN DROP?
MAC cancellation, Big Ten practice changes could be bad sign for 2020 games
Conference’s move makes fall football look less likely by day
Neil Farrell has patiently waited his turn on a talented LSU defensive line, and was expected to finally start as a senior. With training camp right around the bend, however, he’s pushed what would be an individual achievement aside for what he considers the good of his family.
“I love LSU with all of my heart … but my family is what’s important to me right now and COVID-19 has hit my family hard,” Farrell posted to social media on Saturday. “My grandmother is currently battling in the hospital with COVID and due to that I opted out of the season, and will return next season for (my) final year.”
Farrell’s sudden exit from the reigning national champions offers one more example of why a financially related version of the old college try — what’s looking more like a desperate heave by increasingly fraught Power Five football conferences — seems on the cusp of falling incomplete.
In two ominous moves over the weekend, the MidAmerican Conference canceled its fall sports because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Big Ten abruptly opted to keep to the early stages of training camp for its football programs — only helmets, no pads — based on the recommendation of its COVID-19 experts.
The MAC’s decision to aim for a spring football schedule could be the first big domino to fall in a succession of conferences, ones more prominent than the MAC, calling off football games for 2020, with the hope of perhaps cranking back up in January or a bit later across college campuses.
“Football gave me all the opportunities I have today, but I can’t do it at the expense of people’s lives,” said athletic director Sean Frazier of Northern Illinois, one of the MAC’s most prominent football programs. “I can’t do that, and I won’t do that. Not on my watch.”
Saturday’s stirrings came a day after the Southeastern Conference optimistically announced the addition of two league games for each of the SEC’s 14 members, giving the teams a 10-game schedule minus any nonconference opponents.
A somber SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Saturday pointed to what happened early in conference basketball tournaments in March, when leagues began making decisions to cancel their respective tournaments, and the NCAA Tournament ultimately was canceled for the first time in its 82 seasons.
“We want to be connected (among conferences), but the best example is back in March … different conferences made independent decisions, but all arrived at the same destination,” Sankey said on ESPN Radio.
Sankey added that he “can’t provide certainty, but I can provide clarity based on the information at the moment.”
That information does not yet include a cure for COVID-19, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives worldwide, including more than 165,000 in the United States.
“Here’s the bottom line: We don’t have a vaccine,” said Frazier, the NIU athletic director, during a teleconference with media members.
“You can test until the cows come home, but we cannot prevent or stabilize if an individual does have COVID. We don’t know all of the effects, long- and shortterm.”
Sports Illustrated cited a “prominent industry source,” claiming all NCAA fall sports likely would be postponed for at least the semester by the end of this coming week.
Meanwhile, a large group of Pac-12 football players released another letter concerning player safety directed at Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, a missive claiming “you are not taking this matter seriously” following a teleconference with the players on Thursday.
According to the letter, Oregon safety Jevon Holland passionately said during the Thursday teleconference: “Our deepest fear is the Pac-12’s negligent return to play may result in a member of our Pac-12 family dying due to COVID-19.”
The letter, signed by 18 Pac-12 football players, also demanded daily testing if the league intends to push forward with a fall football season.
“While we are discouraged by the tone, tenor and general unpreparedness of Pac-12 leadership during our meeting, there is still an opportunity for the Pac-12 to change course before leading the conference into disaster,” the players wrote in the letter.
As Northern Illinois’ Frazier said: “I’m a father, (and) I’m not going to put my son in harm’s way. I’m certainly not going to put the sons and daughters that I serve out there.”
While the NBA has had success to date with its bubble near Orlando, Fla., a similar approach almost would be impossible with college football.
“You’re talking about separate housing, and who’s in the bubble? We have a lot of people — academic people, trainers, strength coaches and (so on), plus, these are college students,” Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said. “So there is freedom and flexibility that they need to live their lives, so (a bubble) was really never on the table.”
In addition, more than 30 college football players so far from around the country have chosen to opt out of playing this fall, including Farrell.
“My journey at LSU isn’t finished yet,” a cautious Farrell reassured Tigers fans. “God has a plan for me, and I’m following it.”