A JERSEY GUY: Big Ten Players and Coaches Sent to Time Out by Presidents
The veteran college official was trying to explain to me all of the nuances of what had happened in college football over the past 24 hours.
"This stuff happens all the time,'' he said, which drew an expression of doubt from me. "It does, arguments, plans and schedules that go nowhere.
"The best way I can explain it, is that it's like making sausage. It's not pretty and no one really wants to see it being made. What is different now in this era (social media) is that everything is out there and being picked apart.''
The sausage making in CFB continued on Tuesday as the Big Ten and Pac-12 suspended their fall sports, with more suspensions expected over the next several days by the remaining Power 5 conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 12) and other Group of 5 conferences such as the AAC.
What was less obvious were the primary motivating factors for the Pac-12 and, to a much larger extent, the Big Ten's decision.
Headlines were made when Big Ten coaches and players publicly disagreed with the opinions expressed by the University Presidents.
In a private setting that can and does happen without major recriminations in most cases.
Monday was not only public, it was Headline News Public.
University Presidents do not like to be put in the tail wagging the dog situation. They let the coaches and players have their say and they went out and closed down the season for the fall and basically told the players and coaches to sit in a corner.
That didn't work well at Nebraska, where on Monday, football coach Scott Frost publicly suggested that the Huskers would not be adverse to playing in another league this season.
After talking to sources in the Big 12 and at Nebraska, that statement may have been more like the first suggestion that the Huskers want to leave the Big Ten and perhaps rejoin the Big 12.
The Huskers continued to fight the battle by expressing their disappointment in the decision by the Big Ten to suspend the fall season.
Another move by the Presidents also was deceiving.
As much as they talked about their concern for the welfare of the players, the elephant in the room continued to be the fear of ALL presidents and Conference commissioners of a mega lawsuit because of serious heart problems as residuals of COVID-19 virus cases.
Without the protection of waivers, dealing with a $500 million law suit, continues to be the biggest fear among college football officials, dwarfing any individual health concerns of players and coaches.
With the Big Ten and Pac-12 off the grid, the issue of what happens with the other conferences remains, but it also leads to a bigger question involving the college football season.
What happens to the CFB playoff system with only three Power 5 conferences playing?
Sources told TMG that the playoffs could continue with 3 conferences playing, but not less than that.
As the day unfolded, more sausages were being made and more details--both good and bad--were being revealed.