College football needs to set a date to implement Plans B or C.
Mack Brown said last week that he wished coaches stopped talking publicly about any scenarios that, in light of the pandemic, are still in question. Sure, football teams can start preparing like practice and the games are coming, but the question is when and how.
That’s why the sport could use a commissioner to announce whether the season is going to be played in full, and under which circumstances, partially or postponed completely until the spring. And between now and then, make some “fun” alternative plans.
And isn’t it apparent that one plan won’t fit all. Penn State coach James Franklin came out this week and said the Big Ten should play even if all the schools in the Big Ten can’t or won’t. Now, that seems a little ridiculous, when you could come up with some cool ideas.
If the schedules need to be altered, it will be for reasons of safety for the players, coaches, game personnel and fans. And that will be dictated by if the campuses are safe enough to open this fall.
While the chancellors, presidents and Boards all Zoom, it makes sense for the athletic directors and coaches to begin talking privately among themselves to discuss a potential Plan B. There will be money from some tickets and lots of TV, but let’s play for love of the game.
I still like the regional approach, turning states or contiguous states into “college divisions” to mirror what the NFL does in playing home-and-home with opponents within their geography. For this one year, it seems like a better idea than turning the Big Ten into the Big Five.
Let’s get seven FBS and FCS programs in North Carolina to play home-and-home against each other for the first true state championship that Mack loves to talk about. I could take UNC playing Duke, State, Wake Forest, App State, ECU and NC A&T in a 12-game home-and-away slate. Wouldn’t Duke, State and Wake all love playing twice the same season!
Franklin’s Nittany Lions could form the POWV league with Pitt, Temple, Ohio State, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Marshall. The MVD league could be Maryland, Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison, Old Dominion and Delaware.
It’s different, but it puts love of the game first.
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