UCONN OPTS OUT

1st FBS school to bag grid season

UConn canceled its football season on Wednesday morning. The Huskies are legitimately terrible — they've won nine games over the last four years — but they're still the biggest college football entity to skip the 2020 season entirely. Several FCS conferences including the Ivy League, SWAC and MAAC had previously canceled fall sports. UConn was set to play its first season as an independent this fall.

UConn's move comes as the rest of FBS college football hurtles into the reality of playing in a pandemic. The Big 10 announced its conference-only schedule beginning in just a month on Wednesday, and the other Power Five (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12) have announced similar plans.

While Connecticut has seen a significant bump in coronavirus cases from its June-July low, the situation is even worse in New Jersey, where at least 28 Rutgers football players have tested positive for the virus and the entire team is now quarantined. Rutgers is supposed to host Nebraska when the Big 10 begins play on Sept. 5.

UConn had already lost four of its 12 games because of other conferences' decisions to play conferenceonly schedules.

“The safety challenges created by COVID-19 place our football student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said. “Ultimately, the student-athletes would rather preserve their year of eligibility with an eye to competing under more typical circumstances during the 2021 season.”

The school's announcement about the season included a group statement from the players.

“As a team we are in full support of the decision to not compete in 2020. We have many health concerns and not enough is known about the potential long term effects of contracting COVID-19,” the statement read.

College football players around the country are realizing both their peril and leverage as their schools/ employers are determined to play. Indiana lineman Brady Feeney is having heart issues after testing positive for the virus, the most serious case among hundreds of players who have tested positive so far. At least two elite NFL prospects have said they won't play college football again and will instead train for the 2021 draft. And players across the Pac-12 say they won't play this fall without improved compensation and more rigorous health protocols. The NCAA is expected to make a decision on fall championships in sports like soccer, cross country and FCS football on Wednesday.