MWCConnection Roundtable: Will football be played at all this year?

Let’s cut to the chase. This is the question on everyone’s mind and one we’ve been avoiding for weeks. But here it is. Will there be college football played this year in some form? Bonus question: do you think there should be?

Zach: I think teams are going to try. Whether that is in the fall or the winter/spring, I don’t know. With the rate we are going at, I think all conferences need to get on the same page and try to find some common ground. I think for the sake of these athletic departments and in some cases the future of the athletes, schools should do everything in their power to play an abbreviated season in the spring. As long as they can ensure that they are doing everything in their power to monitor the health of their student athletes.

Vic: Nothing’s going to be a surprise the way things are going – so it seems pretty straightforward. We’ll see some CFB try to take off, but with all the writing on the wall, how else can it play out even if we get faster testing?

And no, there should not be CFB this year (and it kinda sucks too this can be considered a political question). There’s more than enough objective signs out there to give the no answer.

To come close to working things out across CFB, there needs to be a crazy push to get organized and serious leadership., i.e. the NBA bubble. But here’s another loaded question. Does the NCAA still wield enough power and influence to get through this mess for all college sports? Doesn’t look like it right now.

So that’s the objective answer. Subjectively…going through withdrawals already.

Mike: I think there will be college football games. But I don’t think they should try. Also, I don’t think they will complete the already adjusted season.

Everyone wants college football, but it doesn’t mean that it’s prudent to do so.

Maybe by the time October hits cases have dropped and there’s some kind of treatment. But I think what is more likely is teams try to play and we see an outbreak happen with a team that isn’t known until after a game is played. Keep in mind things will be more difficult with college teams due to other college students on campus and all of those students interacting and a larger pool of people for something to spread.

All it takes is one team before will start calling for a suspension of the season until the spring. I’m not rooting for that to happen but as a cautious person, that seems to make the most sense to me.

FatDuckUW: I think the fall season is in serious jeopardy. Every day, there is news that is concerning. Currently, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, North Carolina, East Carolina & Ole Miss have outbreaks in or around their athletic department. With just a couple of weeks to go until the season is supposed to start, it is hard to know if things are still on track (but it sure does not look like it). It also does not help that a Georgia State QB has recently been diagnosed with a heart condition from contracting COVID. Such health complications were cited as major reasons that the PAC12 & Big Ten cancelled their seasons. These are serious issues that might derail any fall season. Also, if a conference like the ACC (because of continuing outbreaks) decides to postpone football to the spring, it is a domino that greatly impacts the other conferences. Whether the SEC and Big 12 still plays in the fall becomes very uncertain under that scenario. Also, it is much less likely the Sun Belt, Conference USA, American Athletic & BYU continue playing fall football if the Power 5 teams postpone.

The upcoming fall season is a very dynamic thing. I think a spring season has more hope at the moment. We know that playing fall football this year will be hard with all of the current challenges. We don’t know what football might look like in another 5 months. If vaccines are available and new cases are way down, spring football could work. Unfortunately, we have to wait and see if that is the case.

Graham_Gibson: I think football will be played this year, it will at least get started. I think it is hard to say whether or not football is a bad decision until the sport is actually played (starting in 2 weeks!!). If cases start to spike when more teams begin playing in the late September/October time frame then maybe the decision could be made to postpone the season until the Spring. This could also create a lot of problems with recruiting and the 2021 season though and there is no guarantee that the situation will be any better in the Spring, we could still be in the same exact place. Playing a college football season with all teams in the Spring seems doesn’t seem very possible but if more conferences start to cancel in the Fall once football starts up, maybe the best option would be to push football back and not play in 2020 or in the Spring of 2021, just make the 2021 schedule the 2020 schedule and that way teams can play out their contracts with other teams and get some revenue back. The whole division between the teams playing in the Fall and the teams playing in the Spring just doesn’t seem like it will work out that well.