The Ivy League was smarter

Conference-only solution makes no sense and won’t keep players safer

in 2021. But, again, it would be understandable in an athletic environment that continues to be wildly unpredictable.

But canceling Michigan at Washington almost two months away from the game? Canceling Ohio State at Oregon, Penn State at Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame on Oct. 3 at Lambeau Field? Canceling Iowa State at Iowa, even though both teams obviously hail from the same state?

Nothing about that makes sense. Especially considering that Badgers-Fighting Irish was still more than 80 days away and the Big Ten currently has no problem with Ohio State playing at Maryland, which is 400 miles away.

The Power Five conferences were supposed to be working together, trying to find some way to save college football in 2020.

The NCAA is supposed to be a governing body that looks out for the best interests of its studentathletes.

Thanks to the NCAA, that previous sentence too often is laughable.

The Big Ten’s and Pac-12’s conference-only plan is just as big of a joke and does nothing on paper to preserve health, protect players or keep the college game moving forward in 2020. It’s insular, short-sighted and selfish.

“Ten (Football Bowl Subdivision) conferences have signed a college football playoff agreement with an expectation that we will work together for the good of college football,” said Bowling Green athletic director Bob Moosbrugger, whose program lost a season opener at Ohio State previously scheduled for Sept. 5. “If we are to solve these challenges and be truly dedicated to protecting the health and safety of our student-athletes, we need to do a better job of working together.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

It should also be pointed out that Bowling Green is in the same state as Ohio State and the schools are separated by about 115 miles. If player safety really is paramount, that matchup makes way more sense than the Buckeyes traveling to Maryland and the Wolverines heading to New Jersey.

Is there even going to be a college football season?

Is the NCAA on the verge of fracturing for good, with a contemporary game of survival of the fittest completely reshaping the collegiate landscape?

Is the SEC going to end up ruling its own world while the Pac-12 falls apart and the Big 12 goes its own way?

“We put a medical advisory group together in early April with the question, ‘What do we have to do to get back to activity?’ and they’ve been a big part of the conversation,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN radio.

“But the direct reality is not good, and the notion that we’ve politicized medical guidance of distancing, and breathing masks, and hand sanitization, ventilation of being outside, being careful where you are in buildings.

“There’s some very clear advice about — you can’t mitigate and eliminate every risk, but how do you minimize the risk? ... We are running out of time to correct and get things right, and as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be.”

The Aggies are currently scheduled to play at Mississippi State, Auburn, South Carolina and Alabama. The Longhorns are set to play at Kansas State, Kansas and Oklahoma State.

If it’s safe enough to play college football in 2020, then college football should be played.

Conference-only doesn’t make practical sense — in the real world or on a map. It could also end up doing more harm than good.

With the Ivy League putting player safety first and canceling fall football, the annual showdown between Harvard and Yale known as “The Game” won’t happen again until spring 2021 at the earliest.

Why cancel intrastate nonconference matchups such as Iowa-Iowa State in the name of safety while still having teams travel hundreds of miles within their conferences?