The Door to College Football Season Still Open, Though the Winds are Blowing
As of today, Monday, July 13, 2020, there is still a college football season in the planning stages, but the winds are blowing, and the door is not as open as it had been just days earlier.
Later today, the athletic directors of all 14 conference institutions will meet with conference commissioner Greg Sankey and members of the conference office to discuss their plans for the coming college athletic seasons.
While football is the headliner, we must remember that there are other sports involved in the decisions that will be made either today or in the coming weeks.
The growing consensus of members of the media is that the SEC will not move to a conference-only schedule for football at this time. However, it is highly possible, and some think likely that it happens.
The reason for the thought that it doesn't happen right now is that the SEC desperately wants to play a full schedule- minus games already disrupted by the Pac-12 move to conference-only games- this season, thus waiting a while longer might allow that to occur.
Of course, there is the possibility that a decision could come today to join both the Pac-12 and Big-10, who have already made a move to the conference-only slate and allow planners to adjust the schedules of league members. Still, those adjustments have likely already been addressed.
Sankey said publicly months ago that the SEC would be willing to play under this format, and it has likely been included in the various contingencies discussed.
Sankey's comments at that time seemed to be aimed at the possibility that other conferences might cancel their seasons altogether. He intimated that his conference was willing to move forward alone, and could at some point be forced into that position if the ACC and Big-12 follow the other Power Five conferences to jettison non-conference matchups.
All this is speculation, but we could have some answers before the end of the day as to where the conference stands and how things will be handled. Those answers, while important might not be the final word in this whole situation as there are likely to be even more obstacles with which to deal before we see the first football of the season in the air.
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