Big Ten must think outside the box this year
Safety is a priority for football to be played
MADISON – If it wasn’t apparent earlier this spring, it should be clear by now that college presidents, chancellors and athletic directors are prepared to do all they can to play college football games in 2020.
And recent developments indicate momentum is building in their favor.
According to a Chronicle of Higher Education survey, 74% of colleges plan to hold some level of in-person classes in the fall.
Eleven of 14 Big Ten schools have responded to the survey, with the holdouts being Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern.
Eight of the 11 schools that have responded indicate they plan to have some degree of in-person classes in the fall. Wisconsin, Penn State and Rutgers have yet to announce plans for re-opening.
UW officials expect to have an announcement by the end of July and are considering in-person instruction, a mix of in-person instruction and online classes, and all online courses.
Northwestern president Morton Schapiro, who chairs the Big Ten council of presidents/chancellors, recently told ESPN he expects all 14 Big Ten schools will be prepared to play in the fall, unless state regulations prohibit campuses from opening.
It is important to note that college
administrators and conference commissioners have repeatedly said football games cannot be played if campuses aren't open to all students. Yet they were careful to avoid saying playing games would be dependent on full enrollment.
NCAA president Mark Emmert acknowledged as much during an interview session held on Twitter
“All of the commissioners and every president that I've talked to is in clear agreement,” he said. “If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus.
“That doesn't mean (a school) has to be up and running in the full normal model.”
Faced with the prospect of losing out on millions of dollars from media rights deals if no games are played, college officials should pursue every possible avenue to play football in 2020.
The No. 1 requirement, of course, is that the safety of all parties involved cannot be compromised.
Brian Hainline, the NCAA's chief medical officer, explained the importance of testing during a recent interview on Twitter.
“There's a whole new revolution of tests that have come out,” Hainline said. “And we're measuring how good those tests are . ... We expect the testing to change even more considerably over the next 30, 60 days.
“But if a player tests positive right now, that player is going to have to be quarantined for 14 days. And then you're going to have to look at all of the close contacts and you're going to have to make decisions.
“And if the decision is that all of the close contacts are quarantined for 14 days essentially, well, that's going to be really, really difficult.”
The first college football games are scheduled for Aug. 29. Big Ten teams open in the first week of September.
Minnesota is scheduled to host Florida Atlantic on Sept. 3, followed by Indiana at UW and Illinois State at Illinois on Sept. 4. Towson at Maryland, Purdue at Nebraska, Kent State at Penn State, Bowling Green at Ohio State, Northwestern at Michigan State, Michigan at Washington, Monmouth at Rutgers and Northern Iowa at Iowa are set for Sept. 5.
Big Ten officials have suspended all organized team activities through June 1. They plan to re-evaluate their position at that time.
Southeastern Conference officials are scheduled to address Friday whether to allow student-athletes to return to the schools' facilities sometime in June for voluntary workouts.
With so much uncertainty, it is important that Big Ten officials be flexible and think outside the box.
Northwestern's Schapiro believes all 14 Big Ten programs must be able to play for the league to move forward in 2020.
“I don't see that we're going to have a season with 12 of the 14 schools playing,” he told ESPN.
“I'd be surprised if we play and it's not all 14 of us.”
Why?
The pandemic has placed college administrators, coaches and athletes in a position they've never experienced. These times call for the ability to adapt and pursue avenues that weren't previously necessary.
What is worse: Playing a Big Ten season with only 12 of 14 teams or having all 14 teams sit idle for 2020?
Big Ten officials should leave open the option of playing only league games if needed. That would mean no UW-Notre Dame game on Oct. 3 at Lambeau Field.
If a shorter schedule is deemed necessary to make life safer for athletes, so be it.
Several schools appear to be planning to hold in-person classes through Thanksgiving and then returning to online classes only in the hope of avoiding a possible spike of COVID-19 cases in December.
Some college officials have argued playing football games without fans in the stands is unthinkable.
Why?
Major League Baseball is planning to open its season without fans, as well a lengthy list of safety protocols. Those include no exchanging of lineup cards, no spitting, no sunflower seeds and no chewing tobacco. Players will sit in the stands and stay at least six feet from each other while in the dugout.
Give college football players the choice of playing football in empty stadiums or skipping the 2020 season and most will choose the former, and they'll adjust.
Justin Wilcox, who served as UW's defensive coordinator in 2016, is preparing for his fourth season as head coach at California.
Wilcox recently said he is prepared to move the team's preseason camp outside the Bay Area if the season starts on time and restrictions prohibiting the Bears from practicing on campus remain in place.
"Is that a possibility?” he asked. “It could be. So we've modeled that out now. We've discussed kind of preliminary logistics and there are logistics involved, but those are the discussions that we're having on a daily basis.”
That is the type of flexibility and outside-the-box thinking that is needed during this trying time.