Oklahoma football: Fall football still in state of flux
By Chip Rouse
While Oklahoma football players are back home with time off, the rest of the college football world anxiously awaits what the Power Five conferences are going to do.
Commissioners of all the Power Five conferences participated in an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the viability of going forward with a fall college football season amid continuing concerns about the spread of COVD-19. No decisions were made during Sunday’s meeting, but it was clear that the Big Ten was leaning toward pulling the plug on all fall sports, including football.
The Big Ten did not make a formal declaration on Monday, as some had expected, to cancel the fall football season, but rather rumors have surfaced that Big Ten representatives are considering delaying rather than cancelling fall football.
The Atlantic Coast Conference athletic directors were also scheduled to meet on Monday, according the ESPN, and the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 schools are scheduled to meet and discuss the situation on Tuesday.
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Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told the Des Moines Register on Sunday that there is no immediate movement to shut down the 2020 fall football season.
“I’ve literally been on dozens of calls with doctors and scientists and no one has told us to stop,” the Big 12 commissioner said. “We’ll keep trying to move ahead, although it would be less than forthright to sit here and not add that the last 30 days has not gone like we’d like.”
Sad to say, but an Oklahoma football season in the fall could be in jeopardy.
By the time the Big 12 representatives get together, which is currently scheduled for Tuesday, the go or no-go decision on playing football in the fall may have effectively been made for them. We’re just not sure yet what that decision might be.
Several sources reportedly told ESPN over the weekend that once one of the Power Five conference came forth with a decision to bag the fall football season, the rest would inevitably follow.
A Power Five coach told ESPN, “Nobody wants to be first (to call off fall football), and nobody will want to be last.”
I don’t see how it makes much sense for the other conferences to hold to their guns about wanting to play football in the fall if one or two other Power Five leagues elect to opt out. What would you really be playing for other than a possible conference title? A postseason championship format with only three or fewer of the major conferences participating would trivial.
The Des Moines Register’s Randy Peterson asked Bowlsby what the Big 12 needs to see or hear before making its decision to stay with the fall or push to the spring?
“I don’t know that we need to see anything,” the Big 12 commissioner said. “We just need to listen to our doctors and scientists. In the end, we’re going to do what’s best for our league.”
If you ask the players and coaches what they would like to do about football in the fall amid all the concerns surrounding the coronavirus, my guess is the majority would say we want to play. Nebraska head coach Scott Frost and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh have expressed as much despite the suspected leanings of the Big Ten presidents to cancel fall football.
ESPN reported on Sunday night that “more than a dozen players from all five Power Five conferences came together to create a joint statement expressing their desire to play the 2020 season and shared items they feel need to be addressed to ensure a safe and fair environment.”
The list included such stars as quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Justin Fields of Ohio State, and running back Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State.
Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on which side of the debate you come down on — the decision on whether to play or not is being made higher up the chain of command by adult leaders who seemingly are more concerned about the health and safety of the student-athletes and the risk of coronavirus exposure than a good number of the players themselves.
It’s extremely disappointing to think we may not have college football in the fall, but the alternative and it’s inherent risk factors just don’t seem at this time to be a sensible solution.
That’s why the Big Ten’s notion of delaying the start to a fall football season and waiting a bit longer, as one last good old college try, before deciding to shut things down till spring is worth seriously exploring.