Getty Image / Lance King
Believe it or not, the fate of the 2020 college football season is more up in the air today than it was a week ago despite the fact that we’re closer to the (scheduled) start of the season. I’m not over exaggerating by using the word ‘literally’ here, but literally nobody seems to have a clue what the college football season may or may not hold this fall as we approach mid-August.
Over the last 48 hours, there have been a number of reports suggesting that the Big Ten is set to cancel all fall sports, including football after school officials voted 12-2 in favor of the decision. Following those initial reports from The Detroit Free Press as well as Dan Patrick, another report suggested that it was an informal vote and no such official meeting happened.
Early Monday the writing seemed to be on the wall for both the Big Ten as well as the PAC 12, which is reportedly set to pull the plug on fall sports as well, but things may be starting to shift.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh expressed his desire to have a season despite Michigan reportedly voting against having fall sports. Ohio State has followed suit as players and coaches have taken to Twitter to say they’d be willing to join the SEC for a season if the Big Ten does move forward with canceling the season.
Like I said, literally nobody has a clue what’s really going on.
While Twitter is, as always, a dumpster fire at the moment as everyone is scrambling to make sense of whatever the hell is going on, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey decided to send a message to the college football world with a level-headed, completely rational statement about the state of the SEC football season.
…Deveoped testing protocols…We know concerns remain. We have never had a FB season in a COVID-19 environment. Can we play? I don’t know. We haven’t stopped trying. We support, educate and care for student-athletes every day, and will continue to do so…every day.
— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) August 10, 2020
It’s clear that Sankey and the SEC aren’t going to base their decisions about fall sports just because other Power 5 conferences may make their decisions first. The SEC will take its time, continue to test, continue to protect its student-athletes as best it can, and see what happens. As Sankey said, this is all a totally new environment, there hasn’t ever been a college football season amid a coronavirus pandemic.