A Round of Boilermakers, Please: Purdue's College Football Restart Plan
Here's the pandemic plan for a college football restart.
One drawn up at Purdue.
Maybe over a few Boilermakers, which, of course, is a glass of beer followed by a shot of whiskey.
The former home of Drew Brees, Bob Griese and Gary Danielson.
A great engineering school.
Sent a lot of people to Boeing.
Meet professor Jeff Brohm, considered a great football mind.
Pronounced Braw-mmm.
Schools fought over him 18 months ago to become their new football coach.
This place of higher learning in the college town of West Lafayette won out.
He's not sitting around, holding players' hands, bemoaning the Big Ten postponement.
Brohm has a way to get teams back on the field in an expedited manner.
That includes the Washington Huskies.
He wants to play eight games this winter and 10 more in the fall.
Sort of like a two-part NFL schedule.
With a big bye in the middle.
Momentary reveal pause.
"I wish all five Power 5 conferences has been in this together," Brohm said flatly. "That was a disappointment to me."
He would kick off games in early February, end in April.
Have some sort of playoff in May if everyone is feeling frisky.
Resume in October.
Get fans back into the seats, which is crucial to the college game.
The NFL can rely on its brand of big names.
The college brand is the fans.
"I'm not going to lie," Brohm said. "While we would like to play, I'm not sure our guys would be as excited to go to Michigan and Penn State to play with nobody in the stands."
In the Big Ten, they might have to use indoor facilities because of the weather.
Brohm suggests Saturday be set aside for college football, Sunday for college basketball.
Limit pad practices.
Give the players more time off.
Figure first-round draft picks will pass on this alternative.
Others won't.
There you have it.
Straight from the desk of Jeff Brohm.
He sent it to Sports Illustrated and Pat Forde wrote about it here.
Another round of Boilermakers, please.
