Big Ten Football 2020 Crystal Ball
The on-again, off-again, and thankfully back-on-again 2020 Big Ten football season is about to get underway. And as we gaze into the crystal ball looking for hints of the future that awaits, these 10 things were revealed to us:
10) At least 10% of the league's games will be cancelled because of Covid.
Nationally right now right around 20% of college football games have either been cancelled or postponed so far. However, the Big Ten schedule leaves no margin error should the virus have its way, so postponements aren't an option -- only cancellations. The good news is with the daily antigen testing at the league's disposal, the need for cancellations driven by contact tracing should be reduced compared to what we're seeing elsewhere. Still, I don't see any way it will be eliminated entirely if you're just 5 positives away from not playing that week according to Big Ten protocols.
9) At least one star player will test positive and miss the bulk of the season due to the mandatory 3-week quarantine.
Not going to put a specific name out there, but I am going to play the odds.
8) Players will opt out of champions week similar to what we've seen in bowl games.
Because we're only about five minutes away from players opting out of whole seasons even with no Covid.
7) There will be fans in the stands when Michigan visits Ohio State.
Do you really believe the Bucknuts are going to stay away from the Horseshoe when that school up north visits because that would please the Rutgers school president's demands for no fans in the stands? If so, I've got some land in rural Iowa to sell you where they once wanted to build an indoor rainforest.
6) Nobody in the league goes undefeated.
There's just too many variables this season, as we're seeing across the landscape of college football already (outside of Clemson).
5) The New York Jets will offer their head coaching job, and the chance to draft either Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields, to Ohio State Coach Ryan Day.
He's got an NFL pedigree, and Day fits the profile most in-demands in today's pro football-- a young, offensive innovator. While he's got maybe the best job in college football now, could he be enticed by the number one market and the number one pick? Especially if that pick was his own college quarterback?
4) Jack Coan gets Wally Pipped by Graham Mertz.
Coan performed effectively last season, but Mertz is the highest-rated quarterback recruit Wisconsin has ever signed. Now that he has the starting job with Coan's foot injury, I don't expect him to give it back.
3) This will be Kirk Ferentz's final season at Iowa, and he will be replaced by Bob Stoops.
College football's longest-tenured coach had a tumultuous offseason to say the least, and he probably no longer has the cache to name his offensive coordinator son his successor as many suspected was his hope/plan. Waiting in the wings is former Oklahoma coach and Hawkeye alum Bob Stoops, who already has a Hall of Fame resume.
2) Justin Fields will finish second in the Heisman Trophy balloting to Trevor Lawrence.
It's pretty clear who the top two finishers for the Heisman Trophy balloting are likely to be, Covid interruptions notwithstanding. It's just a matter of in which order.
1) Ohio State will become the first team to ever win four consecutive undisputed Big Ten championships.
Again, Covid intervening notwithstanding. But do you really believe Ohio State would let something like a virus with a 99.8% recovery rate for those infected the age of college football players (according to CDC) stand between them and history? Yeah, neither do I.
