More Random Thoughts: college football

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

This bonus edition of Random Thoughts is centered around the prospects of the 2020 college football season, including thoughts on the Big 10’s decision to play conference-only games because of COVID-19, the impact on MAC schools, Notre Dame’s season and the college football playoff.

Ivy League

In some ways, the Ivy League got the ball rolling when announcing on Wednesday that all fall sports would be canceled. That decision doesn’t directly affect the big boys, like Ohio State, Notre Dame or Alabama, at least for now. However, it could and probably will create a domino affect.

Someone had to go first and it was the Ivy League. Let’s see who else follows suit.

Big Ten

The Big 10 announced on Thursday that conference-only games will be played this fall. That means big non-conference games like Ohio State at Oregon, Michigan at Washington and Notre Dame at Wisconsin won’t happen this year. Those are marquee games and likely would have been prime time games.

As I told some friends, if the choices are conference-only or no games, bring on Rutgers on September 26.

MAC schools

The same friends pointed out canceling non-conference games is a big blow for Mid-American Conference schools.

MAC schools agree to play powerhouse teams knowing they’ll likely get blown out and leave with a big check. Bowling Green was scheduled to open at Ohio State. The Falcons probably would have received as much as $1 million to come to Columbus, lose big, then go to the bank. That money helps fund some of the “non-revenue” sports.

This could lead to more athletic cuts at MAC schools and other schools.

Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish really may be hurting for games this fall.

Along with the Wisconsin game, Notre Dame will miss games against Stanford and USC, if the PAC-12 starts canceling games, which is a real possibility.

If the ACC decides to cancel games, Notre Dame would be in real trouble, since Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Duke, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Louisville are all on the schedule.

College football playoff

Even if the season is played in some form or fashion, how is this going to work in terms of the playoff?

How do you choose a field of four if schools have played a different number of games? I’m not talking about a difference of one game, I’m talking about a difference of 2-4 games.

What if the SEC has a 13-0 team, a 12-1 team and a pair of 11-1 teams? It’s not impossible. Now say the Big Ten champion is 10-0 or 9-1 and what if the Big 12 champion is unbeaten or had one loss, but only played nine games?

What a potential mess.

And how do you fill out bowl games? Even if the season is played, this could be a year that only a fraction of the roughly 40 bowl games are played.

Moot point

All of this may not matter because with each passing day of rising coronavirus cases, the prospect of a 2020 college football season seems to dim a little. I’m not alone when I say I cringe at the thought of no college football this fall but at this moment it’s a real possibility.

If you have thoughts you’d like to share, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.