College Football Schedule-A-Go-Go
Welp - I wanted to get to more fun and theoretical subjects - like the dumbest coaching mistakes that get repeatedly made in college football (next week’s column!) - but we’ve finally had important scheduling confirmations in several of college football’s “Power 5” conferences. The picture of how the fall season would work…if we have a fall season to work with…is taking shape.
With the exception of the Big 12 who seems to want to accelerate some of their early season schedule to get non-conference games in, the Power 5 is looking more and more like a mid-to-late September start.
The Big 12's athletic directors were split Friday while meeting to recommend which scheduling model the conference should use in a 2020 season that remains in flux amid the coronavirus pandemic. The conference is currently considering two primary options: a complete 12-game season or a 10-game schedule including one non-conference opponent, several league sources tell CBS Sports…
…The SEC and Pac-12 announced this week that they are starting their 10-game, conference-only seasons in the traditional Week 4 on Sept. 26. The ACC, which will play a 10-game conference with one non-conference opponent, will begin its schedule in the traditional Week 2 on Sept. 12. The Big Ten has announced that it will play a 10-game conference-only schedule like the SEC and Pac-12, though it has not released any additional information about its season.”
So SEC is talking September 26th, ACC is looking at September 12th while the Big 10 and PAC 12 haven’t said exactly but seem to be eyeing late September.
Another huge piece of news was the announcement that Notre Dame - an independent in football since it began competing in the 80’s…the 1880’s…would be a full football member of the ACC this year, playing 10 conference games against ACC foes. They are eligible to compete for the ACC Championship. Up until now they had been operating under an agreement to play five ACC teams a year (and the rest of their sports have been migrating to the ACC). This is probably a short-term step…but could portend long-term changes as Notre Dame has been a big fish that the Big 10, ACC and previous lesser conferences had pursued for a couple of decades.
Further complicating matters beyond the overall uncertainty about whether coronavirus outbreaks will happen when students return to campuses. Just this week, football players in the SEC were on a call with athletic directors and the NCAA and asked what was being done to protect them when students return. They were told that students have to return to campus for football to happen (as opposed to virtual classes).
This may seem like a contradiction to logic, or something that bows too much to optics - why can’t athletes come to campus as a veritable “bubble” while college students stay remote awhile longer? However, if football players were asked to do that so that the season could be played, the main unstated reason would be financial. Football at the major college level is a big business and pays a lot of the athletic department’s bills. In fact, at major universities, the football program even contributes to other activities on campus. This is all done by players who - while they receive very valuable scholarships - are otherwise basically unpaid labor.
Colleges could admit this contradiction and perhaps even offer greater stipends this year than the normal "cost of attendance” monthly amounts the players get. But that would require a sea-change in how administrators, athletic directors and university presidents talk about and operate these departments.
So, in short, the major conferences in college football are moving towards a Fall 2020 season of sorts - just conference games in most cases unless the ACC and Big 12 follow through on their ideas to have one or two non-conference games.
Moving later into September gives the conferences a chance to watch how the MLB and NFL handle positive tests and the fallout from that as well. There’s no way there won’t be positive COVID college football players during the season. How conferences deal with it remains to be seen. As always, remember that the NCAA has almost no control over this - the Power 5 are like the Five Families in New York - they may try to do what’s good for “business” as a whole, but ultimately watch out for themselves.
We just have to stay tuned - as the picture becomes more clear, I’ll be rolling out the outlook on the season. Next time we’ll talk about those repeat bad strategic mistakes by coaches.