Stop Pretending Like Anyone Knows What College Football Will Look Like This Fall
Be hopeful but listen to the experts, like doctors.
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Will there be a normal 2020 college football season?
No one knows for sure what the fall college football season will look like in any form, and that includes a number of games when the season start or if there will even be a season.
The logical answer is just too soon to know for sure and those college football coaches who are saying for sure, they know nothing, so listen to medical experts about clues and also if college campuses are open or not.
If campuses are not open during summer school how can football teams convene for summer workouts or have access to the weight room if the school is shut down. These are other clues to know how a college football season will look like.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney who spoke to reporters and showed extreme confidence that the upcoming season will go on as planned.
“This is America, man,” Swinney said. “We’ve stormed the beaches of Normandy. We’ve sent a rover out on Mars and walked on the moon.This is the greatest country.
We’ve created an iPhone where I can sit here and talk to people in all these different places,” he added. “We’ve got the smartest people in the world. We’re going to rise up and kick this thing in the teeth and get back to our lives.”
His enthusiasm is great but this more than just finding a vaccine, a cure, or something preventive to slow COVID-19. A lot of has to do with people gathering in large places.
Swinney has no clue if COVID-19 will be in control enough to allow a stadium full of anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 fans in a stadium. We all would love for this to be the case but we just do not know.
There are people like this in my neck of the woods where people do not care about this and calling it a fake pandemic (click image for full view) and are gathering closely together eating a meal.
These type of gatherings are what will keep this virus spreading and delay getting back to everyday life.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban in a conference call was not going to make a prediction on the upcoming season, and this might have made the smartest comment on the 2020 college football season.
“I never really answer hypothetical questions,” Saban said to the Associated Press. “I’m sure that everybody’s going to want me to speculate on what’s going to happen in the future, and nobody really knows. It’s very uncertain. It’s uncertain times.
“I think we have to fight through the process of what we need to do on a day to day basis to make good choices and decisions, to do the right thing at the right time regardless of the circumstance.”
It is all a wait and see approach for the 2020 season and Saban is right on this by not wildly guessing on when the season will begin.
UP NEEXT: What will a 2020 season look like?
Getting Creative For 2020
While no one knows at this time what the fall will look like but there have been a few ideas out there on what a season could look like.
Utah State head coach Gary Andersen sent out a video to the media and he started to discuss a cutoff date for when a 2020 season ould begin. His date is June 1 as a cutoff to be able to get the season going on as plan.
That date is very arbitrary and probably a bit early to make anything definitive, but where Andersen gets creative is that if the season gets pushed back then he suggests playing only conference games.
This is not a bad idea by Andersen but also not great. His June 1 cutoff date is early but if the season were to be completed in its normal time meaning it would end around the first week of January with bowl games.
Another idea would be to push the season back and either have the season be completely in the spring or do a split season with a later fall start time a break around finals and the season ends around March.
There are a lot of logistics of doing a split or even a spring football season. Such as, would seniors who are projected to be high draft picks sit out the year, how will games be broadcast with the NBA, NFL playoffs, NCAA basketball, and maybe even some early season Major League Baseball.
The college football season really needs to be played one some level and a lot of that has to do with revenue that comes with that sport. Even a conference-only season would bring in a lot of money to each school with four home games within the Mountain West
UP NEXT: Athletic directors unsure
Athletic Directors Weigh In
An anonymous poll conducted by Stadium’s Brett McMurphy sent out to all 130 FBS athletic directors provided some insight into their thoughts. The poll was conducted on March 31 and there are 20 percent who say it is a toss up that the season will be impacted.
Most of the votes seem to be between the 70 and 80 percent mark that the season will go on as normal but overall they are all over the place but none are below 50 percent. So, the confidence level is not high that a season will be postponed but there is some serious concern.
Here are some key quotes from the athletic directors.
“There better be (a season) or many programs will be out of business.”
“Quite simply, it would be devastating.”
“If there’s no season, we will be f*****.”
“This has been crazy with high anxiety,” a Power Five AD said. “The potential financial impact is starting to be understood.”
Added another Power Five AD: “As of right now, I have no clue if there will be a full season. But if we don’t, it will get ugly.”
“Most of the Power Five schools wouldn’t miss a beat,” a Group of Five AD said, “but it would be devastating to the rest of us.”
The quote by the Group of Five athletics director is sort of true. There are some Power Five schools that would be fine but if there is no season or zero revenue how can schools fund other sports.
In some cases, state schools have to spend all of the money or lose it so there is no way for them to hold onto unused money which is why having no revenue can really hurt even some Power 5 teams. Some of those teams might need to rely on athletic funds from donations they receive over the years or dip into the endowment from the university.
One of the best quotes from a Group of 5 AD is also a good thing to end on.
“There is still so much to be assessed over the next several months,” the AD said. “Concerns with finances, adequate practice for teams, potential looming restrictions in regard to travel to certain states, TV scheduling, the uncertainty of what the stadiums will be — what will be the fans’ perspective of sitting so close to another?”
There are still a lot of questions to be answered and some people want to be positive like Swinney but others are looking into alternative plans like Andersen. For now, anyone who claims they know how the 2020 season are just guessing.
