New England CFB in the Spring
In a year in which expect the unexpected has become standard procedure, UMass and UConn, two football programs who shut down their fall operations last month, are now moving into a "spring football'' mode.
According to a new NCAA edict, programs which have called off their fall football programs, can implement a practice program reserved for spring football--as long as they schedule at least ONE regular season game next spring.
With that in mind, officials from both schools have begun discussions of finding an appropriate date to play a regular season game (which had been scheduled to be played at UConn on Sept. 3) sometime next spring.
NCAA rules also state that programs, which have suspended football this fall, can hold spring practice this fall and can schedule as many as eight regular season games next spring.
"Does this make sense,'' asked UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford yesterday in a phone conversation. "Nothing this year makes sense. We're an independent, we have to go out and find games. We are talking to UConn about a game, but after that I don't know. Maybe we will just play the one game and get ready for the fall of 2021.''
UConn football coach Randy Edsall, who was part of the first FBS program to shut down fall operations, said that a one-game regular season "spring'' schedule was the most likely scenario.
""It's all crazy,'' said Edsall, with a laugh.. "When we do it next spring? I don't know, sometime when the weather is warm I guess.''
Besides the independents such as UMass and UConn (BYU, New Mexico State, Liberty and Notre Dame are the others), there are additional schools dealing with the fall spring option; FBS teams from the Mountain West and Mid-American Conference and FCS and Division II and Division III schools.