Group of Five Schedules Hit Hard By Big Ten, Pac-12 Cancellations. And It Might Get Worse
We already know that lot of people—players, coaches, fans, administrators, vendors, hotel owners, and restaurant owners to name a few-- are anxiously waiting for the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 to announce how they are going to handle the opening of the 2020 college football season. Their decisions will pretty much dictate what kind of season we’ll have—or if we will have one at all.
But trust me on this: None of those folks are more nervous about these pending decisions than guys like Mike Aresco.
Aresco, a former vice-president for programming at CBS Sports, is the commissioner of the American Athletic Conference, a group of 11 schools that includes UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis and USF.
The AAC has made its reputation as the top dog in the Group of Five (Mountain West, Conference-USA, Sun Belt, Mid-American are the others) conferences by taking on teams from the Power Five conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12) and holding their own.
Last season the AAC finished fourth among all conferences (ahead of the ACC and Pac-12) in non-conference winning percentage. The AAC was fifth in non-conference winning percentage in all FBS games. Over the past few years Aresco has lobbied hard for the Power Five to expand into the Power Six. That effort proved unsuccessful but Aresco remains bullish on his conference.
UCF, Cincinnati, and Memphis have all been mentioned in preseason Top 25s. Houston is expected to improve in Dana Holgorsen’s second year.
“I think we’re set up to have a very good year,” said Aresco.
But here’s the problem. The American has already lost three scheduled games against the Big Ten (Nebraska, Purdue, Northwestern) and one game against the Pac-12 (Washington State). Those conferences have announced that if there is a season, they will play a schedule of conference games only.
The American still has three games pending against the ACC (North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami), two against the SEC (South Carolina, Mississippi State,) and three against the Big 12 (Texas, TCU, Oklahoma State). If those Power Five conferences choose to play a reduced schedule in 2020, those eight games could go by the wayside for the AAC.
“We know a lot of what we do is based on what the Power Five does,” said Aresco. “We would like to be in control but we have to understand that they are driving the train. We have very good relationships with the Power Five and would like to be in the room. But that’s not the case.”
Then Aresco added this:
“And crunch time is coming in a couple of weeks.”
Aresco and the other Group of Five commissioners are all feeling the schedule crunch that could only get worse:
The Mountain West and Commissioner Craig Thompson have had 11 games cancelled by the Pac-12.
The Mid-American Conference has lost 10 games against the Big Ten.
Collectively, the Group of Five has 45 games pending against the ACC, SEC, and Big 12.
For the Group of Five, games against the Power Five are more than just a proving ground. They are a very important payday.
This season Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt has two road games against the SEC--at Georgia on Sept. 26 and at Arkansas on Nov. 21. If the game is played, Georgia will pay ULM $1.8 million. If the game is not played because of the coronavirus or other factors, it is not certain if ULM will get paid. With a football program that had $5.8 million in expenses last season, those are pretty important checks.
Aresco said there are a lot of variables still in play as all the conferences ultimately decide the fate of the 2020 season.
“Everybody wants to play if we can do it in a safe and controlled environment,” he said. “That’s why we brought the kids back to campus early. We decided that our testing would match what the Power Five was doing. That’s important.
“But I heard from one my coaches the other day who wanted to know if his team was ready to play and the opponent wasn’t, how would that effect the standings? Those are things you have to factor in.
“What if, because of the virus, some teams play seven conference games and some play only six? You’d have to put in number of tiebreakers.”
There are a couple of things, however, that Aresco is certain about.
In his mind, playing the season in the Spring is a non-starter.
“We have to play in the Fall if at all possible,” said Aresco. “Spring ball is so dicey. Could you ask your guys play 10 games in the spring and another 13 in the Fall. I just don’t see it.”
Aresco also believes that in order to play the college football season, the students must return to campus.
On Wednesday Clemson announced that, because of a spike of Covid-19 cases in the state, in-person classes would be delayed by four weeks.
“If the campuses get closed I don’t see how (we can) do it,” said Aresco. “If the (students) aren’t safe how do you keep the athletes safe?”
Aresco said that people in his position owe it to the athletes to leave no stone unturned in an attempt play the season. He concedes that it is going to be hard.
“It’s going to be difficult but I think we have to try,” he said. “We polled our athletes and easily 90 to 100 percent of them want to play.”
These are the Power Five non-conference games against the Power Five that have been lost and those that are still scheduled for the Group of Five conferences:
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Games cancelled (4): 3 from the Big Ten; 1 from the Pac-12
Games pending (8): 3 from ACC, 2 from SEC, 3 from Big 12,
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
Games cancelled (12): 11 from the Pac-12 schools (five were home games); Fordham at Hawaii
Games Pending (5): 4 from the SEC; 1 from Big 12
MAC
Games cancelled: 10. All from Big Ten opponents.
Games pending: 8. Four from SEC; one from ACC; one from Big 12
CONFERENCE USA
Games cancelled: 2. Both from Big Ten.
Games pending (14): 5 from ACC; 6 from SEC; 3 from Big 12
SUN BELT
Games cancelled: (2). Both from Big Ten
Games pending (10). Seven from SEC; 2 from ACC; 1 from Big 12.