When your mother first told you, “Eat your vegetables, they’re good for you,” that probably didn’t happy. But she was right.
When someone tells you it’s going to be 108 degrees outside, you might groan, but you’re groaning at the depressing news, not because you’re actually mad at your friend. They didn’t choose the weather.
I offer these examples to demonstrate that just because you don’t like hearing bad news doesn’t make it untrue and doesn’t make the bearer of said bad news the bad guy.
In other words, please don’t shoot the messenger. Please.
Because what I’m about to say, you probably don’t want to hear. And frankly, I don’t like saying it.
We are dangerously close to not having college football in the fall. I wish it wasn’t so, but there are too many arrows pointing in that direction, especially after the MAC and Mountain West announced in the past 54 hours they would not be playing fall football.
“But Glen,” you might be saying, “those conferences don’t have national title contenders, why should I care about that?”
Perhaps you don’t need to. But if the 14 presidents of the Big 10 schools voting 12-2 in favor of not playing football in the fall isn’t troubling, I don’t know what is. Sure, no decision has officially been made, and the other Power 5 conferences don’t have to follow the lead of the Big 10, but it raises some questions, for sure.
The Big 12 is expected to meet today to come to discuss options. And while few things shock me anymore, I would be slightly surprised to hear the Big 12 come out today and vehemently say, “We’re playing fall football, no ifs, ands or buts.” (That being said, the ACC athletic directors “absolutely intend” on playing this fall, according to several reports.)
And while that might not be what you want to hear, there a few things to keep in mind as decisions are being made. The first: college presidents, athletic directors and coaches WANT college football to happen this fall. The universities stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if there is no football. Like your mother with the vegetables, they’re not just doing this to be mean. They want what’s in the best interest of the student athletes.
The second thing: just because quarantining has worked (and that hasn’t been the case for every school), is that going to be the case when students arrive on campus? Is it even possible at that point? Sure, the Oklahoma Sooners have only had one player test positive over the course of several weeks, but once 27,000 students descend upon campus and players are expected to go to class (they are student-athletes after all), do we suddenly expect there to still only be one case? And while college-aged patients might typically have healthier immune systems, what about players with heart conditions or coaches in their 60s or who’ve had health issues?
Third: With likely zero to very few fans allowed at on-campus games, what does college football do come bowl season? If it’s so dangerous that we’re eliminating non-conference games (even though it’s far closer for Missouri State to travel to Norman, Okla., than it is for the Sooners to go to Morgantown, W.V., but whatever), what reason do we have for 40 bowls, especially if you can’t make money off the fans? And if the Big 10 does indeed jump to the spring, what to make of the College Football Playoff? If a team like Ohio State, believed to be one of the national title contenders this season, goes unbeaten against the Big 10 in the spring, what’s their prize? Do they claim a national title?
And finally: I keep using the term “football in the fall” for a reason. As of now, I (with admittedly no doctoral or medical background) am confident we will have college football in the next eight months. Just because we don’t have it in the fall (which we still could) doesn’t mean there won’t be football. Would a spring season mean a much shorter off-season and throw a wrench into NFL Draft prep? Sure. But if a few more months to develop a vaccine or to figure out ways to keep players and students safer is needed, why would we not want that?
After all, spring football is better than no football.
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August 11, 2020 at 01:00PM
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Like it or not, college football in the fall is in trouble - The Lawton Constitution
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