Cal Football: Delaying Season's Start to January Involves Complications

The suggestion that college football could wait to begin its 2020 schedule until after Jan. 1, 2021 sounds intriguing but is fraught with complications.

That was the contention of Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin during Thursday’s Pac-12 media webinar. He got no argument from Cal coach Justin Wilcox.

“It’s an incredibly complex model,” Wilcox confirmed.

Sumlin detailed the many issues involved with possibly shifting the start of the season from early September to early January, if experts determine that’s a safer timeline against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

“After January 1, you get into some other issues,” Sumlin said.

He said there are eligibility issues, the complication of spring semester classes beginning, players who have planned to graduate in December and be done with school, and others who want to do early enrollment in college after graduating high school before Christmas.

Those newcomers arrive on campus with the idea of enrolling in classes and being available for spring workouts. Would they be allowed (or even fit) to play in a spring 2021 schedule or would they be automatically red-shirted? How would a half-year on campus impact their eligibility clock?

A bigger issue may involve the NFL’s offseason calendar. An early January start to the college football season could mean playing games into early April, even before bowl games and the College Football Playoff.

“Let’s be honest, if the NFL doesn’t change what they’re doing, you’ve got some guys who might be affected by the combine or the draft,” Sumlin said.

Then there is the actual 2021 season, which would presumably start no more than five months after the 2020 campaign ended in the spring of 2021.

“What does that say for next season? What does that say for players that are coming back to your program, and if that season starts then are you trying to play 24 games in a 12-month calendar?” Sumlin said.

“It’s not as easy at that. It impacts a lot of different things. In particular, the spring and the next fall.”

Wilcox sounded no more confident than Sumlin that the January start to the season could be worked out.

“We’ve talked about really everything out there, to a degree. Some more than others. The late start has been discussed and there are a lot of logistical issues with it,” he said. “Ultimately, if that’s what’s best for college football we would be on board.

“But I think it would take a lot of planning, a lot of logistical work to get that done. We don’t know yet. We’re still gathering information.

“We’ve spent more time with our normal schedule, and from there what are the modified schedules that could happen if need be.”

Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, also on Thursday’s webinar coaches panel, smiled and suggested that Sumlin and Wilcox nicely summed up all the issues.

“Wait and see,” he added, “but there’s a plan for everything.”