B1G Presidents and ADs meet tomorrow
A friend of mine tells me B1G presidents and ADs are meeting tomorrow with the goal of making a decision on the upcoming season.
I got negged in the Washington/Arkansas St. thread but I'll repeat what I said, B1G games only is a likely outcome. If we do play a non-conference game (singular, one), it'll be a regional opponent...likely a MAC school.
9 or 10 game regular season seems like the most likely outcome.
No word if the conference schedule gets redone, but the goal is to make everything more "regional."
I could see a two games on, one week off scenario play out if they don't push back the start of the season (which is on the table). If you start on Sept. 5 and go 2 on/1 off, you finish at Thanksgiving unless you play that 10th game, then you end the week after Thanksgiving.
This is obviously smart because every 2 games you get 13-14 days before your next game. In theory, to get some of your roster back (if needed).
Logic is, by doing this the B1G avoids dealing with conferences who may not have the same standards (in terms of safety), more bus trips/less travel, etc.
Also, the B1G can now implement it's own rules that everyone has to abide by without worrying about what everyone else is doing (testing policies, suspension/forfeit rules, the whole thing)...the B1G can control its teams and level the playing field.
Take it FWIW.
OP, as of this weekend, I heard Maryland and Rutgers were still considering opting out and NW had some weird condition where they only wanted to play division (B1G West) games. You getting any of that info?
I've also heard there could be open schedule dates filled in on short notice by regional teams like EMU, WMU, Toledo, etc, but they want to get paid to make it worth their while, specifically due to Covid regulation related expenses. IE, big revenue schools may be expected to cover more than the usual bill for games to occur.
What you said about the MAC/regional teams makes perfectly good sense, as their athletic budgets have to have been completely destroyed by the covid shutdowns.
Yeah, everything he said made sense except NW wanting to play only division games.
I could see teams like Rutgers or Maryland possibly opting out due to longer travel and not pulling in the bigger revenue (I'm guessing Nebraska doesn't do this since they pull in big $ from football despite the extra distance), and no way PSU isn't playing football if B1G season is on.
But the NW thing just made no sense to me - they are literally right in the middle of the BIG map and actually closer to schools like UM and MSU than Minnesota and Nebraska.
If true. And thats the qualifier.
Nw is scamming the system. They could easily go 6 and 0 in the west and lose to anyone that they play in the east even though msu, um, osu, and iu are all closer most west opponents.
Haven't heard that but interesting on Maryland and Rutgers. Although they're the ones (and PSU) who can't drive a ton. They can really only bus to play each other. Maryland had something come out last week about their custodians basically saying we're not coming to work until you all come up with a plan for us. They've got some issues they're dealing with.
Wouldn't surprise me on N'Western (or some of the other West teams). Easier path to the B1G championship game and they can claim West champions (which matters to some of them).
Plus if it's limited or no capacity, what's the point of hosting OSU or Michigan? You're not going to get the ticket money. Every school in the league (except maybe Rutgers) can sell out 25% of their stadium for every home game playing Huron High School...people want football. If I'm a B1G west school...I want OSU or Michigan at home when they're going to pack my stadium.
And I don't think anyone is playing a MAC school (knowing their resources) without chipping in extra cash to make sure they're all tested, isolated, and they're meeting B1G standards. The B1G has money to have a go at this, but the MAC? Good luck.
From what I got, it's basically, let's get in, get this TV money and get the heck out of dodge.
If they play football and push soccer and volleyball and field hockey to the spring, that will tell us all we need to know. Money grab.
Good point - I wasn't looking at NW using the situation for an on-field competitive advantage (avoid OSU, UM, PSU). Shady move if that's the logic behind it. As per the packing the home stadium $, also makes sense.
Rutgers just announced they're going mostly remote for classes in the fall. I have to wonder which Big 10 schools will follow suit, and how that will affect football. Will there even be football?
I don't think we see Rutgers or Maryland playing football this year - specifically if they don't like what they are hearing from the league over the next few days.
Those are 2 of the 4. We may see University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota opt out of this season as well.
I am all for a b1g only schedule.
Play 12 games, cancellations are what they are.
Highest win pct with a head to head tie breaker is the champ. Most wins is 2nd tie breaker if the 2 teams did not play.
Watch, we're going to play OSU and ND, twice.
Beating ND 3 times in 2 years would be epic.
what’s that? LALALLLLAAAALLA I can’t hear your reply about OSU
You should be creating and posting a similar gif of yourself celebrating being recently named "president for life", Vlad
Clearly a very popular leader among his countrymen!!!
(Wait...)
Not sure if this question is relevant, but does title 9 play an issue here at all? I mean is it legal to have a football season, but not have a Women’s soccer or field hockey season? I can’t remember the 3 or so stipulations with the law, but am wondering if that’s an additional constraint in planning wrt which men’s or women’s sports play or get canceled.
Under the current administration? Hahahaha.
The SCOTUS ruling on Title VII creates a lot of questions regarding the future of Title IX protections
But you're not canceling those seasons...you're just moving them to the spring.
You're not taking away opportunities from women.
If Maryland or Rutgers opt out, could we replace them with Notre Dame? It makes way more sense for Maryland to play the ACC schools on ND's schedule, and ND to play all the B1G schools that literally surround them.
Fuck no. ND deserves no favors. They opted to stay independent and continually screwed us in scheduling. The way we destroyed them last year was the perfect way to send out the figthings.
They don't deserve the right to avenge that loss, especially not this soon. They need to hold that L.
You are TOTALLY skipping over the financial part of that equation... no way either of the schools or TV networks skip that money grab if it's an option this fall. It's going to be the Wild West in terms of scheduling if football even happens.. UM/ND would be a (probably rare) gold mine if they can make it happen.
While I agree that money grab would be scheduled quicker than a heartbeat in the middle of an orgasm, I'd rather UM sit back and watch ND beg for it to happen. Then I'd love to watch Warde say, simply, "no". If there is any karma in the world, ND would need the money and be forced to go without.
Fuck ND.
::Slaps self in the face, shakes head, returns from delusionary state::
All of this sounds amazing but we all know Harbaugh would say yes to this game in a heartbeat and that's all it would take for Warde to fall in line.
Tell your insider friend source to impose ridiculous conditions on ND if they want to play. Like they have to join the Big Ten and split their NBC money with the conference. Also their first 5 years in the conference they play at Michigan.
Warde better not bail their ass out.
Appreciate the update and sorry to hear your previous post was negged to shit, but after reading all of these different scenarios - I'd honestly rather just cancel the whole damn season if it all plays out this way.
It would be Michigan's luck to finally win something this year only to be associated with a big ol' asterisk next to it.
Who cares? I'd rather win something with an asterisk than not win anything. And our program could really, really use some concrete success.
If a season can't be played because it's just too risky, I get it. But if a season can be played, I really hope they have one because I think that most of our players really want to play and I'm concerned that if there's no season, athletic departments will have to lay-off a lot of people and even permanently shut down a number of varsity sports programs.
If you haven't already noticed, one by one more schools are going remote or signaling they're going to -- Pac 12 schools, Ivies, some B10 -- and what that means is pretty soon more schools will follow and, boom, there goes football. No students on campus, no players on the field. I think it's time to accept that (although I suppose there's always a chance they could play in the spring).
Just watch. This is going to be America in September:
Casinos and Disney World will be open, schools will not be.
Doesn’t the no students on campus almost strengthen the football in fall argument? We all know football is king, so wouldn’t this scenario play out in the fall? All students are remote learning, but football players are doing so while on campus. Likewise, doesn’t keeping most students away from campus almost insure a bubble around the football players?
Schlissel has already said that there will be no football if students are not on campus. I get his point - 'student athletes' shouldn't be treated too differently from the rest of the student body. Remember that Schlissel comes from the Ivies and largely believes that sports don't belong on campus. An academic minded school king, he is...
I think you misinterpreted my above statement as meaning Michigan-specific when it was in reply to someone talking about college football in general and it’s collective response to the pandemic.
Now your mention of Schlissel does bring up a possible interesting confrontation between the leader of the University and one of the real powers behind it. We all see this dynamic in a number of other big schools, do you think the head of U of Alabama would say no to football if all students can not be physically present on campus, if Saban said he prefers to play football in the fall? You would see that President walk back his statement so quickly. Why would Schlissel and UofM be any different here? Granted I would think Harbaugh would be more agreeable to moving football to spring or going along with the administration, but do you think UofM/Schlissel would say no to football if the Big Ten and Harbaugh said something to the effect of having football players on campus during a campus shutdown/remote learning scenario?
Now if you ask me specifically what my thoughts on this all, I say football in spring, and plan for the winter semester to be remote learning only.
Since you asked... I believe that if Schlissel says 'no football if students aren't on campus', and then determines that students will receive remote learning only (off-campus), there will be no Michigan football this season.
I do not believe that Warde Manuel holds enough power/esteem/persuasion within the C-Suite to override Schlissel. Nor do I see Harbaugh fighting such a decision. He genuinely cares about people (especially his players), and society, and I very much doubt that he would cause a such stir by throwing caution out the window so publicly and brazenly.
So yeah, because he already said it - if he decides no students are coming back to campus this year (for whatever reason), football is out. Regardless of whatever the B1G decides to do.
Harvard said only 40% of students on campuses in the fall and that is mainly freshman. Remote learning for most courses. Princeton said most classes remote. Unclear how we think we will handle it better than those two but whatever.
Harvard will allow some students on campus this fall under strict new rules
A lot of them are going "remote."
They'll still have some classes on campus that they deem cannot be done virtually. Labs and whatnot.
That will open up dorms to be singles only and help manage who is on campus (dining and whatnot).
I know this has been said before, but I just do not get why busing is any safer than flying. The teams take chartered flights. Planes have better air circulation than buses. The players and coaches probably wouldn't have to set foot in an airport.
This is not me complaining about us not playing Washington. We could replace them on the schedule with EMU for all I care. Any season would be great, IMO.
But I just am 100% at a loss for why taking a bus would be any better than taking a chartered flight.
You can split busing (like having 10 buses with different groups). You can open windows with buses so there's circulation. You can't do that for a plane.
Yet still, planes replace the air in the cabin quicker than a bus' windows will, and do so without blowing your face open - and your saliva and snot all over...
The four schools that want to opt out are probably Rutgers, Maryland, PSU and Nebraska. They are all completely isolated. Nebraska would probably play the old Big 8 schools plus Iowa. Rutgers, Maryland, and PSU would play each other, along with Temple, UConn, Syracuse, and BC.
I think it's less about safety and more about reducing travel related costs in a world where revenues are down from limited/no ticket sales. Safety is the way it will be framed though to show how much they care for the kids.
sadly, i doubt there will be football.
I have little doubt they’re going to start a season of some kind. The big question is how far can they get into it before a team or two has a major outbreak amongst the players and/or staff and they have to call the whole thing as a result.
When do these attempts to have some kind of season reach a point of diminishing return? I think it’s pretty ridiculous that we’re into the second week in July and the NBA and NHL are still trying to cobble together some kind of weird schedule/tournament in front of empty arenas just so they can say they “finished” their seasons.
Baseball I’m fine with them giving it a shot because 162 games is too damn long anyway.
I know college and the NFL have to try, but damn does it seem like this whole thing is on a knife’s edge and it’s not going to take much to have to scratch it all again.
There are rumors of up to 4 B1G ADs who want to suspend the 2020 season. Unless these ADs are convinced to play regional conference games, then I'm afraid the season may be cancelled. I guess we will wait and see.
They should wait and see. With so many cases being younger folks down south right now, can you really chance it? Stakes are high, and colleges will opt for social correctness as opposed to sports. Risking students, professors, administrators, staff, etc. is not something I see them doing right now.
Am I the only one here that doesn't think there will be a big ten college football season, or anything resembling a legitimate season? Everyone is going on and on about NW going 6-0 in the west, who is going to win each division, etc. I think these will all be moot points as there will be no (or very little) football this fall to even try to declare any type of conference champion.
No you are not the only one. Fall camp is supposed to start in less than 1 month. Keep in mind these players also missed out on Spring practice. Nobody seems to know how classes will be conducted, the season ticket renewal window is still open, yet we expect full contact drills to start in less than 4 weeks????
+1 for using moot properly
If we don't have football in the fall, I'm not really optimistic about the spring either. Given we were unable to contain the initial spread of the disease, [Insert reason that supports your political views here], and nothing is really changing regarding mandated measures to control the spread, the only thing that could radically improve the situation is reaching natural herd immunity or achieving vaccine herd immunity. I'm not sure we achieve either of these by spring.
It would take a tremendous collective national effort to flatten the curve at this point, but just observing attitudes and behaviors, I think many have just grown exhausted of taking Covid preventative measures. I'm worried this "wait until spring" is just a mirage.
New study today said Spain (who was hardest hit) has shown little to no ‘herd immunity’. Like 4.6% or something showed antibodies. In addition, doctors said no guarantees you can’t catch it again. Vaccines may require multiple doses and only good for 1 year. This is a mess no matter how you look at it.
Herd immunity strategies called into question after coronavirus antibody study in Spain
This is all fine and dandy. But keep in mind, our Gov just said she is watching numbers closely and has no hesitation to shut things down again if cases move up. We are no where near fall and people back in close proximities indoors. I could see a couple of game played and we shut down again.