LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Prepare for chaos. It’s already here. The great college football crackup is tagging along with it.
In less time that it usually takes to play the first quarter of a college football game, this is (some) of what happened Monday morning:
*Indiana football coach Tom Allen did a 25-minute Zoom conference call and said that his staff and players are following protocols with eager determination to play the 2020 college football season, but ...
... the decision on how to proceed through the COVID-19 pandemic will be made by medical experts. And that, Allen said, is how it should be.
*Less than 10 minutes after Allen logged off, the Detroit Free Press reported that the Big Ten has decided to cancel its 2020 college football season. A source at Indiana told me that IU had not been been informed of that decision. Others reported that an official decision has not been made.
Sources: Big Ten votes to cancel football season; no games for Michigan, Michigan State in 2020 https://t.co/7emHPRAzqS
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) August 10, 2020
“As long as doctors say that we can do it, we will,” Allen said.
*Less than five minutes after the Detroit story was posted, Louisville football coach Scott Satterfield also answered questions on a Zoom teleconference.
Although Satterfield never mentioned the Big Ten or the Pac-12 (the two leagues considered most likely to be first to cancel the season) his anger about a “lack of leadership” or commitment to follow the original plan was intense, pointed and ongoing.
Somewhere in the middle of that volley, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic shared an email from Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, which reflected the strong desire of the Wolverines’ program to play.
Statement from Jim Harbaugh. pic.twitter.com/CftMW7d5lC
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 10, 2020
Don’t forget national talk show host Dan Patrick, who shared the nugget that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will surrender on Tuesday but that the Southeastern Conference is trying to convince the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences into joining them by proceeding with their current plans to play reduced schedules.
DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow... The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence.. And the SEC is trying to get teams to join them for a season. Watch live: https://t.co/sMaeXQkLfl pic.twitter.com/oSUNGMTEqw
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020
The great college football crackup is officially underway. I wrote several weeks ago that football would be different than the other sports.
There was disappointment but acceptance when the NCAA basketball tournaments were canceled.
There was frustration but resignation when the NHL and NBA went into Pause Mode before returning with their plans that featured moving games into bubble environments.
There was disappointment and frustration but not surprise when baseball waited 3 1/2 months before resuming because baseball is never quick to figure things out.
But football?
Be the first to take football away and you’d better find a bunker. People aren’t simply going to shrug and say, “That’s too bad,” when you tell them that you’re taking away football, especially college football in college football hot spots.
On Monday, Allen sounded like a coach in charge of coaches and players who respect the disease and all of the protective requirements that it creates. But Allen also said multiple times that this will not be a decision made by coaches or players.
“I have coach in front of my name, not doctor,” Allen said.
One day after Indiana practiced in shoulder pads for the first time, the Hoosiers had the pads off the next time they reported for another workout.
For coaches and players that has become the most challenging part of the last 151 days, since spring football was canceled along with all of the other sports that went to the sidelines.
One day players are encouraged back to campus for voluntary workouts. The next day a string of the inevitable number of positive tests suspends those workouts.
One day a league (like the Big Ten) announces that it has reworked its schedule to eliminate conference games to give schools a more controlled environment. It even makes a big deal out of releasing the dates on its television network.
The next day somebody in the league leaks stories about how the revised schedule and medically approve protocols are not enough. No foot all in 2020. Wait for the official announcement.
Pads, no pads.
Up, down. In, out. Left, right. North, south.
Prepare for chaos in college football. The great college football crackup is already here.
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