When Nebraska left the Big 12 in 2011 for the Big Ten Conference, everyone talked about the league’s stability.
This was the “no drama” conference. It was a breath of fresh air after being bullied around by Texas for 15 years. That was under then former commissioner Jim Delaney, who had steady control of college football’s most prestigious conference.
Fast-forward to 2020. Delaney is retired, and Kevin Warren is in charge. On Tuesday Warren delivered a crushing blow to his league members, canceling the entire fall sports season.
This came on the heals of vocal support from schools like Nebraska, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa to move forward and play a football season.
After a strong push from coaches like NU’s Scott Frost and OSU’s Ryan Day on Monday, the thought going into Tuesday was the Big Ten would delay the start of the 2020 football season, to perhaps Sept. 26. Keep evaluating the COVID-19 landscape.
It was the decision that made the most sense. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 all plan to move forward and keep evaluating based on advice from their medical experts. The Big Ten first made the thought of canceling fall sports to the other league commissioners, and that was clearly met with strong pushback and resistance from those Power Five leagues.
It’s also clear to me that several Big Ten schools were totally ok with this move, as only the five I mentioned made known public campaigns to play.
Nothing about this feels right. The Big Ten could’ve waited. In fact, I thought they’d push until Sept. 26 just to ensure their players didn’t get poached by other Power Five programs moving forward.
If the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are able to play a football season in 2020, this will be a disaster for the Big Ten.
It also makes you scratch your head why the medical experts in those leagues say it’s safe to move forward, while the Big Ten’s do not?
In a perfect world, the entire Power Five would act as one. We know that will never happen, as each league operates autonomously.
The Power Five is a snapshot of our country. Thoughts and views about COVID-19 are different in all five of those leagues. In the Big Ten, the views of attacking COVID-19 differ, as the league spans from Nebraska to New Jersey.
What we know is the Big Ten put out schedules and held an elaborate release show on Wednesday. You don’t do that if you aren’t going to play.
Something clearly changed by Saturday. I was told on Saturday morning there was new medical information shared by team experts, and that’s when this all started. Warren cleared teams to open camp by Friday, and by Saturday he was telling them not to put the shoulder pads on. At that point, you knew things were not good.
What happens now? If you are fan of the Big Ten, you hope the other leagues eventually follow. If not, the damage done in 2020 will take years to repair.
Also, will Nebraska go down quiet, or will the Huskers explore other options to set-up a regional schedule? At this point, all bets are off.
Frost knows the damage this decision is going to have on the state of Nebraska. I can’t see him going away quietly on this. They may get shot down, but I expect NU to explore their options.
