PROVO – We broke up a real discussion about whether we should play college football or not.
The perfect solution escapes us.
Meanwhile, BYU’s 2020 schedule went from 12 games to six then just to three after Mountain Mountain (Utah State, Boise State, San Diego State) pulled the plug on the fall season Monday.
Should BYU now follow immediately or independently? Just quitting?
Or trying to build a new season with a three-game foundation?
I know BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe worked just as crazy last month to create a season after losing Pac-12 and Big Ten games. I was told Monday that people have little idea how many conversations, emails and texts Holmoe has had over the past few weeks to land opponents, but so much is beyond his control.
He’s like a hamster riding a wheel.
Later Monday I was instructed to think about all this. After hours of research, phone calls and thinking about things, I told my boss this was like surfing, you never know what wave will come.
It’s just nuts. In the past 48 hours, things have changed by the hour.
At the moment, if the SEC, Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference and American Athletic Conference decide to go ahead, they might need an independent free agent like BYU to fill in somewhere, because some games will come out as the Big Ten cancels their season.
Or not.
Nebraska says it will play, even if its conference does not. If it does, it will surely call Holmoe and other survivors hopeful survivors. De Air Force Academy announced it would investigate games with rivals Army and Navy, despite the MWC postponing the games until the spring. Maybe AFA will call Holmoe.
Maybe other MWC and Big Ten teams will rebel against league editions like AFA did.
Or not.
In all this we have a divided country.
It is not snowy and dry.
We have Weber State unable to play football, but Weber High will play this week.
You have Utah transfer back Devonta’e Henry-Cole who is leaving Utah for BYU and will go to Utah State this summer and now he can not play this fall. How strange is that? Will he ever play another down of college football? Spring, you say? Can anyone promise him that?
We didn’t expect Big Ten and Pac-12 presidents to say no to football, yet we just witnessed an exciting end to the PGA Championship – in San Francisco. The NBA is playing in a bubble, the NFL is running up to kick out, and Major League Baseball, albeit with some bumps, is competing.
Still, is college football on its knees?
In one corner you have university presidents in the Pac-12 and Big Ten who are sending signals that the coming season should be closed or postponed. The threat COVID-19 scares them. A cynic would say they do not want to be accused, prosecuted or responsible for an outbreak; the claim that it puts the health of students first. This, about the objection of many of their players and coaches.
In the other corner you have the Big 12, ACC and SEC leadership who at least want to try to push forward and play football. Yes, there is a risk. They will try every way to be safe, but they believe it is worth trying to see what happens. They may still pull the plug, but they have the belief that playing is better than stopping.
In the SEC, football is a religion. Will the SEC say no to football? I will believe it when I see it. They only flinch during hurricanes that they can actually taste and see.
After a week of player-learned manifestos and demands in selected college football conferences, there is an equal pressure by many players that they really, really want to play football, virus are being condemned.
This, people, is a real problem.
We have already seen athletic careers and dreams are ruined this spring.
Yes, many were in the noble pursuit of security. But is it really that unsafe?
It is not clearly cut. One decision may not fit all of them.
Bronco Mendenhall of Virginia says the bigger picture is what matters most, that this is a nationwide and global concern and safety to shade everything else. His team has had zero positive tests.
If college football closes, the financial carnage will be in the billions. Many athletic departments have already been hit incredibly hard and this will cause layoffs, furloughs, and cuts that will take years to recover from. Scholarship scholarships will be mess-up, so will recruitment. You could have two senior classes in 2021 when and if things go awry.
Without TV revenue, all conferences will be drained to the basement piggy bank. TV networks will be hit hard with reduced advertising revenue. Expenditures and bills will climb.
Is this all necessary? Is it too much or is life saving?
There are some who believe that it is too much. They even believe that shutting down spring sports and canceling the NCAA Final Four was too much of an overcoming that we as humans still need to get on with our lives. We can not get shelter forever.
One of Stay and Play’s biggest voices is Clemson superstar QB Trevor Lawrence. He has become the voice of players, of whom I believe the majority wants to play. Lawrence joined numerous players who tweeted a message under the banner of their Power Five conference logos and used the hashtags #WeAreUnited and #WeWantToPlay.
In separate tweets, Lawrence declared: ‘People are just as much, if not more at risk if we don’t gamble. Players will all be sent home to their own communities, where social distance is highly unlikely and medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they contract COVID-19.
‘Not to mention the players who come from situations that are not good for his / her future and have to come back to that. Football is a safe haven for so many people. We are more likely to get the virus in daily life than football. Having a season also encourages. ”
Chad Fotheringham, father of Utah’s star tight end Cole Fotheringham tweeted from late Monday a heartfelt plea: “Let them play! My son has trimmed his tail to be ready this year and he will be safer than not. He is currently surrounded by those who constantly test him, treating him (if necessary) when he plays. Not playing puts him in more danger! ”
So this is the dilemma: Playing and maybe getting sick, or spreading to communities and maybe increasing chances of getting COVID-19 with less safety nets like free testing from athletic departments.
Glad it’s not my call.
