Harbaugh Says Michigan Could Play in Two Weeks. Virus Says Otherwise.

The crawl under ESPN’s game coverage of what passed for Week 1 sounded so intriguing: Jim Harbaugh says Michigan could be ready to play a game in two weeks, the Detroit News reports.

And the video was right there on Twitter, posted by Detroit News writer Angelique Chengelis. Harbaugh spoke as he walked in a #LetThemPlay rally in Ann Arbor

“Our position with the Big Ten to everybody has been, we want to play as soon as we possibly can, and we’re ready to play,” Harbaugh said. “We could be ready to play a game in two weeks. Just get the pads on. Our guys have trained without a pause since June 15. That’s our position. We’re ready to play as soon as we possibly can play.”

My first thought was: Wow. What an interesting idea. I wonder if other coaches around the Big Ten would agree that they could play a game in two weeks. If that’s so, there could be games soon if the Big Ten officials who canceled the season would swallow their pride and reverse their decision. This would answer the angry players, coaches, parents and fans who are staging protests around the league. And it would help recoup some of the roughly $1 billion that will be lost without a football season.

And then, reality set in.

This isn’t really about whether the teams are ready to play from a football standpoint. It isn’t even about the myriad logistics involved. . . the travel for road teams. . . the broadcast plan...the decision on how many, if any, fans would be allowed in the stands.

It’s about this: The Covid-19 outbreaks speak loudest. And they say college football is looking precarious for those who are starting to play or planning to play. And while they may start, it’s an open question about whether they’ll finish.

Another open question: What will be the cost of trying to play college football—in terms of people becoming ill. And in terms of fanning the flames of a virus that has shaken America for six months, and is showing no signs of being contained.

TCU was forced to bow out of its scheduled Friday opener against SMU due to a surge in positive tests. Rescheduling what would be a very interesting nonconference matchup between two talented Dallas/Forth Worth-area arch-rivals looks like it will be challenging.

Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt canceled a scrimmage scheduled for Saturday because 44 players were sidelined, most of them due to positive tests and contact tracing. The surge will limit the Vols' ability to practice for their opener, which is scheduled for Sept. 26 vs. South Carolina, Pruitt said.

Despite the hopes of Harbaugh and other #LetThemPlay Big Ten protesters—and everyone who wants college football, really—the problem is not the people directly involved in the game.

It’s the people directly involved in keeping Covid-19 raging out of control. The failure to do simple things like masks, hand washing and social distancing months ago means America still has its hands full.

And while many professional sports have managed to dodge the pandemic bullet to a large degree, college football does not operate in a bubble-like environment the way the pros do.

Iowa City; Champaign, Illinois; Athens, Georgia.; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Chapel Hill, N.C. and Notre Dame are among the many campuses that have experienced hard Covid-19 landings as students returned.

Consider this headline from Sunday’s New York Times: “A new front in America’s pandemic: College towns.’’ ...The subhead: “The coronavirus is spiking around campuses from Texas to Iowa to North Carolina as students return.’’

Data shows that Coronavirus cases are surging in counties where college students are more than 10 percent of the population, the article said. Meanwhile, the virus is in decline in all other counties.

On the bright side, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said its partnership with Quidel Corp. to supply sophisticated new rapid virus testing is “a game-changer” and “a major step forward.”

For college football, which is bobbing and weaving as it tries to line up for blocking and tackling, it can’t come soon enough.