A little over two weeks ago, the Big Ten announced that it would not play its fall schedule and would shoot for a spring slate instead. Now, however, the conference could be shifting gears.
As Bruce Feldman of The Athletic tweets, Big Ten coaches discussed the matter by phone this morning, and a reversal of the earlier decision is a strong possibility. Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription required) was the first to report that the conference was considering an earlier start date, and that the goal is to open the season by Thanksgiving weekend.
If the Big Ten can pull off a 2020 season starting around Thanksgiving, that would obviously be a major boon for the NFL. As of now, the Pac 12 is the only other Power 5 conference to postpone its season to the spring, with the ACC, SEC, and Big 12 still pushing for a normal start. If the Pac 12 were to also have a Thanksgiving start date, the collegiate season for all Power 5 conferences would end no later than the middle of February, so the NFL could hold its scouting combine more or less on time and the 2021 draft could proceed as normal.
Of course, smaller conferences have already announced plans to postpone their fall schedules, but the Power 5 is where the NFL finds the vast majority of its talent. The league is reportedly willing to do whatever it can to make sure college football is played before the 2021 draft, but maybe it won’t have to do as much rearranging as it initially thought.
Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit News reports that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has scheduled an NFL-style combine for his players on October 24, and players have been practicing combine-specific drills in preparation for the event, which will be open to NFL scouts. Perhaps Harbaugh will soon be able to shift his focus back to preparing for actual games.
Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, however, cautions that it’s still early in the process and that Big Ten coaches and ADs are discussing a number of different start dates (Twitter link).
NCAA coaches and administrators started seeing all that lost revenue & changed their minds; shocking. You know they aren’t giving up their 6-7 figure salaries.
Why not October vice Thxgiving?
Because many health experts are expecting a resurgence of the virus by November. Why not wait a few weeks to avoid a false start?
No Florida teams in the Big Ten, so you won’t have to horde turkeys JJ.
so silly for different conferences to be playing at different times
Huh. Big Ten commish says he wants to swing the election and then helped influence the postponement of the fall season. Now talk of playing….after the election.
If you don’t think (or at least have suspicions) that COVID is being used for political aims, you’re not using that critical thinking part of your brain.
I’m really glad you pointed this out. I was dead set on voting for Biden because the big 10 decided to postpone their season. I almost made a huge mistake!
You’re welcome. Yeah, I mean, football is definitely the only thing people have been taking advantage of the virus for politically, so I’m glad you’re clear on that now.
Sarcasm?
Definitely
I keep having this nightmare where I’m 4 yrs old again and Kimberly Guilfoyle shows up at our house determined to read me a bedtime story.
I guess they’re discounting the possibility of a second (third?) wave in the fall… If that happens, these schedules are moot.
Greedy greedy greedy!! The AD’s are acting like employees of the NFL.
Smart move playing in the dead of winter.
Schools that play in the Big10 play in such nice climates that starting around Thanksgiving and ending in the dead of winter should make for an interesting season…
Well there are these things called domes…
And exactly which big 10 team had a dome ??